


Fate Map

by Alecto



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Biopunk, Clones, Duel Monsters, Gen, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-29
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2017-11-03 14:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 52,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/382217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecto/pseuds/Alecto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After eight years of confinement, Yuugi finds the world is nothing like he remembered. The only place he might belong now is among a group of rebel IDS fighting for their freedom. But the Kaiba Corporation isn't about to just let Yuugi get away, and Noah has sent the company's greatest bounty hunters to recapture him. </p><p>-A biopunk AU-</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fugue

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to both darkmus and M for beta'ing.

Kaiba Noah surveyed the wreckage of one of his many labs. The computers were all trashed; there was no telling how much data was lost without a complete audit. Worse yet, the locked cabinets and refrigerators storing all of the biological samples and genetic cocktails had been broken into. Noah had the feeling that anything left behind wasn't worth salvaging. He leaned against his cane—his legs still ached from last night's storm. Being awoken at 3AM to fly an hour outside of Domino City only soured his mood even more.

"Report!" he snapped at one of the scientists, Dr. Hanamori.

"It's bad, Noah-sama. We lost almost everything. I don't know how they did it, but we're going to have to restart a lot of our experiments from scratch."

"And the specimens?"

The scientist shrunk back, and Noah knew his answer then. "All gone, all sixty-five of them. We think they may have had a rouge IDS with them that reintegrated the specimens. Either way, there's been no sign of them."

"We just finished a testing cycle, so it could have been worse. We can rebuild; I want everything up and running within a month. We've already fallen behind Chichiue's timetable."

"Uh, Noah-sama, I'm afraid there's much worse news."

The room fell into complete silence as everyone drew in a collective breath and held it.

"What?"

"Subject AA011 is also missing. The acquisition of new specimens would be impossible until he is recaptured or replaced with another competent IDS."

Noah brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose and squeezed. He battled the urge to swing his cane and beat the living daylight out of the halfwit. God, he would feel so much better, but then he would be right back to square one. He would still be months behind with no viable prototype to show his father.

"Then get him back, he has a tracker," he growled through clenched teeth.

The scientist brandied his clipboard like a shield. "It went dead within an hour of the break-in. A search of the last location has turned up nothing. They've already moved him."

Noah's temper erupted despite his best efforts to control it. He threw his cane at the scientist, who barely ducked in time. The cane flew past the man's head and sent a pile of broken cages crashing to the floor. "Useless," he spat. He glared at the security team sweeping through the lab for clues. "All of you are useless—garbage! How did idiots no better than an animals' rights group break into one of the most secure facilities on earth and make off with all of our research materials?"

No one dared to meet his gaze. A guard moved quickly across the room to retrieve his cane and offered it to him.

"We are doing our best to recapture the subject as we speak. We will not fail you again, Noah-sama."

"Too late," he snatched the cane, and one end clipped the guard's temple. "I am charging Betaforms 268 and 275 with the pursuit. If he is in the hands of a terrorist cell, they will wipe them out once and for all."

-x-x-x-

The ceiling overhead was obscured in shadows, but he could clearly make out the fact it was tiled. His entire cell was built with cement though. Even the air tasted different—as if it wasn't endlessly filtered and recycled. Without sitting up in bed, he turned his head and saw curtains fluttering in the breeze. His cell didn't have windows either. When he couldn't hear anyone else in the room with him, he climbed out of the bed. That was another thing; he had always slept in a cot.

Through the closed door, he could hear voices. When he turned the knob, the door swung wide open. The people in the next room immediately went quiet. His eyes were drawn to the all too visible holsters on some of their waists. Panic settled in and he quickly backed away. Something was wrong; this wasn't the lab and those people weren't his usual caretakers. Several of them stood up and started to approach him.

His panic only deepened.

"Wait, just listen for a moment!"

"Someone just grab him for now."

He ran back, trying to put as much distance between him and them. But he was outnumbered and had never been much of a fighter.

"Please calm down, we won't hurt you."

Their holstered weapons still suggested otherwise. He moved toward the open window and glanced over the edge.

"Don't think about it, kid. We're three floors up," a blond-haired man warned before jumping forward to tackle him.

He let his instinct take over. He took a deep breath before whispering, "Winged Guardian," and throwing himself out the window. After falling less than a few feet through the air, a large blue dragon shimmering into existence below. He scrambled to grasp onto the spikes along the dragon's back, dangling unsteadily for several moments. The realization that he was outside and that was the wind playing though his hair caused his whole body to tremble. His eyes watered at the sight of the full moon overhead.

"Please get me away from here," he pleaded.

The dragon took flight over a long stone path and a forest of green. There were no other buildings in sight. He had no idea where they were going, but he didn't really care. He was free for the first time in a long time. But then a sudden force sent him flying off the dragon's broad back. As he crashed into one of the trees below, he could see his Winged Guardian being intercepted by another dark purple dragon. His fall was broken by several branches along the way and finally by a bed of flowers beneath him. He couldn't see either creature through the canopy of green.

His captors reappeared suddenly; some of them with their weapons drawn. He mentally ran through the list of other xenomorphs at his disposal, but he hesitated to call more than one with the Winged Guardian already about. He tried to escape in the other direction, but he was surrounded. They had managed to herd him into a trap.

"Summon—" he began to call on his powers again. He didn't want to hurt them, but he refused to go back to his cell.

"Wait, Yuugi-kun, we're here to help you."

The sound of his given name made him pause.

A white-haired man stepped forward and offered him a gentle smile. "Yuugi-kun, it's been a long time. I hope you still remember your old roommate."

Yuugi was first taken to the training facility many years ago along with many others of Domino's Inter-Dimensional Summoners (IDS; colloquially pronounced as "ids" like Freud's psychological apparatus) population. He was only there for a few months as his abilities quickly outpaced the others, leading to his transfer. Looking back, it was one of the better times before the world fell apart.

And it felt like an eternity ago.

"Bakura-kun?"

His old friend nodded slowly, and Yuugi broke into tears.

-x-x-x-

When Yuugi emerged from his shower, he found Bakura Ryou waiting in his room. The white-haired man was distracted by the tablet in his hand. Yuugi took a moment to study Ryou. To be honest, Yuugi struggled to remember what his old roommate was like. He couldn't recall much either, but he thought Ryou used to be a lot more quiet and less self-assured. He may have changed significantly, but Yuugi would never be able to pinpoint how much.

The thought wracked him with guilt.

Ryou looked up and smiled again in a way Yuugi was almost sure he never used to. "I remember the first time I got to shower after they broke me out. It was one of the most liberating things I did in years."

As Yuugi pulled the towel away from his head, his fingers brushed against a scar on the back of his neck. He wouldn't have noticed it if the gauze hadn't gotten wet. It took a few minutes of struggling with the mirror before he finally saw the puckered pink scar. "Bakura-kun, did you guys do something to me? I never had this scar before."

He wanted to trust his old friend, but years of experience had taught him to nurture a healthy amount of suspicion.

Ryou reached back to touch the base of his neck. "They install a tracker in all highly certified IDS, you know. It's a good thing you were already heavily sedated when we found you. They took mine out while I was conscious."

Yuugi shivered and decided not to ask anymore questions.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone when you're dressed."

Ryou left behind a change of clothes on top of the bed. The shirt label said 100% cotton. Yuugi ran his fingers across the fabric, savoring the sensation of the softness against his skin. The clothing he wore in captivity—his prison uniform—had been synthetic. The dirty off-white fabric didn't breathe. It had been like a shroud trapping everything up against Yuugi's skin, choking him.

He chose to just lay naked on top of the sheets for a while.

After a while though, he could no longer put off the inevitable. Ryou and those other people were waiting downstairs, and Yuugi needed answers. He slipping into the clothing provided and went downstairs.

Yuugi nursed a cup of green tea in the living room. The tea was soothing and barely familiar after so long. He stole furtive glances at the others through his long bangs. Besides Ryou, there were two other men and one woman. The woman's delicate features resembled Ryou's, and Yuugi wondered if they were related.

Ryou pointed to the other two men; first the shaggy blond and then the brunet with the sharp hairstyle. "That's Jounouchi Katsuya-kun and Honda Hiroto-kun. They were the ones that helped rescue you last night."

The two men kept their distance from Yuugi, and Yuugi preferred it that way.

"Thank you, Jounouchi-san, Honda-san."

The woman approached him directly though. "I'm Bakura Amane, Ryou's older sister. How are you feeling?"

"It's okay," Ryou coaxed. "Amane is basically the doctor for our little group. She was the one that removed the tracker from you."

"I'm fine, I think. Thank you for taking care of me, Amane-san." He peeked up at her, feeling trapped suddenly.

But her smile was exactly like Ryou's. "No need to thank me, it's the least I could do. Let me know if anything hurts. I'm afraid we didn't have the most sterile environment while operating. We need to make sure you don't contract an infection."

"Where are we?"

"We're about 30 miles away from the facility," Ryou looked out the window with a thoughtful expression. "We should be safe here until the sedatives are completely out of your system. Your grandfather can't wait to see you again."

He tightened his grip around his cup. "Jii-chan?"

Jounouchi strolled across the room and settled on the couch as well. Yuugi shrunk back and scooted closer to Ryou instead. "Yeah, kid, your Gramps really misses you. He's been looking for you forever."

"Please don't call me that. I'm—" Yuugi paused and a look of pain flashed across his face. "I don't know how old I am anymore. I don't know how long I've been gone."

Ryou reached over and patted one of Yuugi's hand. "It's been eight years since we first met, Yuugi-kun."

"Oh god, I'm... twenty-three then." His stomach twisted violently. Yuugi resisted the urge to throw up.

"No kidding," Jounouchi screeched. "But you're such a little shrimp, I could have sworn you were like fifteen!"

Yuugi resumed his silent contemplation of his tea instead.

As Jounouchi opened his mouth to say more, the front door opened with a loud crash. The cup shattered on the hardwood floor as Ryou grabbed him and ducked behind the couch. Amane joined them with her weapon drawn. Jounouchi and Honda immediately reached for their firearms and aimed at the entrance to the den. The long shadow of a person stretched down the adjourning hallway.

"You asshole! We nearly shot you," Jounouchi shouted at the man that appeared in the doorway seconds later.

The new man was tall with dark brown hair and a long shining leather coat, and he didn't look particularly bothered by the Jounouchi's threat. He stood with his arms folded across his chest and glanced through the other occupants of the room. His gaze stopped and focused on Yuugi when he peeked over the couch. "So it's true, you did take something from the lab."

"Hey, Kaiba you bastard, watch your mouth. He's a human being, not some lab rat." Jounouchi clenched his fists.

"Kaiba?" Yuugi's body shuddered. He remembered the KC logo printed on all his caretakers' uniforms and the green-haired man that never bothered to use the two-way mirror. His chest constricted, making it harder to breathe.

Amane rubbed his back. "It's okay. He's with us. He's not going to take you back."

Yuugi squeezed his eyes shut and tried to push out the rest of the world. He was beginning to wonder if he would be better off if he had continued to run or if he was even back in his cell.

"And you have no idea what you took. Noah's put out a country-wide ABP for him. The company wants him back now." Kaiba drew a handheld tablet from his coat pocket and threw it to Jounouchi.

The blond man glanced over the information onscreen before handing the computer to Ryou. "This is bad. It's going to be a lot harder to get back into Domino now."

"What is it?" Yuugi asked. He leaned against Ryou to read the screen.

"They're claiming you're part of a terrorist cell and are offering 2,500,000 yen for any information that leads to your arrest." Kaiba said as he walked past to pour a drink from the liquor cabinet.

"But I've done nothing! I haven't had a life outside of the lab for eight years!"

"This is bad! This is bad! What are we going to do now?" Jounouchi started pacing back and forth.

Kaiba glared at them all. "Then you shouldn't have taken this one from the lab."

"What were we supposed to do? We weren't going to leave him there. You of all people know what things Noah could be doing."

"I don't understand—" A thousand thoughts flew through Yuugi's head. It seemed cruel that his new-found freedom was so quickly soured.

Ryou placed a hand on Yuugi's shoulder and squeezed. "Yuugi-kun, I hope you don't take this the wrong way. We didn't break into that facility for you. We just sort of ran across you. And we had no idea Noah would want you back this much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit that this story and this genre is new territory to me. Thankfully, my betas are experienced with this genre! Just a few overall thoughts here:  
> \- The world here is not yet full on biopunk, but rather at the cusp of becoming one. There is a far amount of cyberpunk elements thrown in.  
> \- The Duel Monsters (or xenomorphs here) are going to be called by their dub/English language TCG names on the most part. I don't know how many people are familiar with the translated Duel Monsters names from Japanese OCG. There will be just one notable exception later...


	2. Autonomy

Noah watched as Betaform 275 perused the folder he was handed. The betaform's ruby red eyes scanned over the pages slowly before looking up again. "You want me to find him, this Mutou Yuugi."

Mutou Yuugi had been one of Noah's most productive research subjects. Unlike most IDS, Yuugi was able to develop affinities with a number of xenomorphs across different categorizations—a generalist summoner. Yuugi's ability had supplied Noah's lab with a multitude of diverse test subjects. It was a trait that Noah needed to reliably reproduce, thus including Yuugi's genetic code in the Betaform project was a no-brainer.

This was the best time to test both 275's skills and loyalties.

The white-haired man seated next to Mutou Yuugi's clone was known as Betaform 268, and he snorted quietly.

Noah had not personally met or known 268's genetic source. Though 268's range of affinities were more limited, he aligned with something just as valuable: stealth class xenomorphs. It help make 268 an expert in infiltration. He was an effective agent, but had been given far too much leeway to develop a personality of his own.

Noah focused his attention back to 275. He was going to put his bets on this model; and if he proved successful, Noah could decommission the old one. "Yes, we need you to retrieve the subject alive. We don't know exactly who took him, but we suspect it's a terrorist group."

"What should I do if I meet resistance?"

268's eyebrow twitched slightly as he responded, "I think the answer should be obvious."

"Do whatever it takes. I want you to also take down his kidnappers, the whole network if possible," Noah ordered. "There's no telling what else the terrorists may have found out."

"Noah-sama, are you sure it's wise to start a manhunt without police support? We'd be drawing unnecessary attention," Hanamori peeked at both betaforms out of the corner of his eyes. "To ourselves if—"

He cut the scientist off, "I don't care. I want the entire network burned. Do you understand? They've been a thorn in our sides long enough."

275 glanced down at the photo again. "Yes, sir."

Noah had expected some questions, given the prey they would be hunting. But it was all the better that they didn't ask. At least that part of their training sunk in. "Good, Hanamori will now prep both of you for your excursion."

"The neural inhibitors should wear off in about two hours without another injection. You are going to be issued the standard BH pack for your excursion." Hanamori spoke as he readied two syringes.

275 extended an arm to receive the injection. "What is this then?"

268 gave a wide and sharp grin. "A boost to help us make up for lost time. It's only good for a few hours so we'll need to make the best of it."

Noah reached into the folder and pulled out several other pictures. He held them up for the two to see. "We were able to recover some video footage from the break in, and we were able to determine two of the three culprits. Both of these men are known terrorists and have extensive criminal records. Distortions in the feed suggests that at least one of them is a rogue IDS with affinity to stealth category xenos. Depending on their level of ability, you are to either dispose or capture them as well."

268 took and pocketed the photos.

Hanamori's expression remained grim. "I remind you that your condition and activities will be monitored at all time. If you should show any signs of going rogue or miss your bi-hourly check-in—"

"Yeah, yeah," 268 interrupted. "You'll melt our brains remotely."

"It bears repeating. This is 275's first excursion."

He heard 268 then mumbled quietly: "Great, I'm stuck with a newbie."

-x-x-x-

Yuugi descended the stairs the next morning with more than a little trepidation. He had tossed and turned most of the night away. There were so many questions to ask—though he admitted he was afraid of the answers to some. Most of all, he couldn't stop thinking about his grandfather and his mother. He wondered how they'd been the last eight years; if they missed him as much as he'd missed them?

The tablet that Ryou left with him helped fill in the last few years. None of it painted a very merry picture. The incident at the Kaiba Corp testing facility twelve years ago had completely destabilized the global balance of power. All over the world, people suddenly awakened to their gift and developed affinity with powerful creatures that weren't previously visible to the human eye. Yuugi knew the situation was troubling before he was cut off. Many western countries didn't like Japan's intent to re-militarize, but Japan refused to remain defenseless as everyone else made progress in new military technologies by leaps and bounds. Skirmishes broke out between countries with long-standing hostilities. Japan wasn't immune either, quickly finding itself facing off with China over territory.

When Yuugi was first taken into the program, there was still hope that his powers would ultimately help his country. He may be freed from the lab, but he wasn't free in his own country.

He looked up and down the hallway, but he couldn't find anyone else. The few rooms he peeked into were also empty, though some of the beds looked slept in. Even with daylight, the house looked lonely and cold. There was still a thin layer of dust on most surfaces, suggesting it wasn't usually occupied. After peeking through his tenth door, he also realized the house was a lot larger than he first thought.

The sound of talking and laughter finally led him to the dining room on the first floor. The group was seated around a small table with breakfast. Much to Yuugi's relief, the man named Kaiba was nowhere to be seen. Another man and a teenage girl Yuugi had never seen before sat opposite of Ryou.

"Good morning, Yuugi-kun," Ryou greeted him with a smile. "Would you like some food?"

"Please," he nodded slowly before approaching the table. His stomach growled at the very thought.

Yuugi took the empty seat next to Jounouchi, after the other man patted on the cushion. Ryou returned from the kitchen with hot bowls of rice and miso soup. The half-devoured grilled mackerel on the table was one of the most appetizing dishes he'd seen in years.

"Did you sleep well?" Amane asked.

He just nodded. He was grateful when they finally stopped staring at him and resumed their conversation. He tried his best to follow it, but got quickly lost between talks of security checkpoints and hardware specifications.

The girl seated across him waved enthusiastically, causing her blond curls to bounce. "You must be Yuugi, my name's Rebecca Hopkins."

He stared at her for a moment. "You're not Japanese."

Rebecca ignored his comment and pointed to the man with a ponytail and green eyes next to her. "And he's Otogi Ryuuji. We're also with the movement."

"Hey, brat, leave the kid alone. You can flirt with him after he finishes eating." Jounouchi threw a slice of pickled radish across the table.

Rebecca's face went bright red before reaching for a pair of chopsticks. "Shut up, you... you... bonkotsu!"

"Hey, don't you start calling me that too!"

Ryou cleared his throat loudly, causing the two to stop mid-fight. "Everyone, why don't you go check over preparations for tonight? I think Yuugi-kun may want some peace and quiet as he eats."

The dining room cleared out in seconds. Although Yuugi could still hear Jounouchi and Rebecca's bickering fade as they moved to a different part of the house. Only Ryou and he remained. As Ryou moved seats to be next to him, Yuugi said, "You didn't have to do that. I don't mind the noise."

He didn't want to say how oppressive and crushing the silence really felt.

Ryou cradled his chin in his hand. When he smiled and tilted his head, sunlight from the window cast a warm halo of light around him. Yuugi hurriedly looked away and down at his half-eaten bowl of rice.

"I remember how strange everything was when I first got back out," Ryou said. "One day, I was stuck in a cell with no escape and the next day, I was suddenly free. Except I wasn't really free."

Yuugi's mind was pulled back to the pages of articles and documents he read last night: about the Shinjuku Massacre and IDS internment. "The world has completely changed, Bakura-kun. What do I do now?"

To his country, he was nothing but a threat...

He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat as he recalled the footage of previous attacks against the government and corporation buildings. "Are all of you part of a resistance movement?"

These people had somehow managed to break him out of a very secure facility. He was beginning to wonder if he had been too quick to put his trust in them just because of a familiar face. But if they were trying to trick him, why both giving him free access to the net at all? Why not restrict the amount of information available to him?

Ryou reached over and took his hand suddenly. "I'm sorry, Yuugi-kun. Maybe we'll have time for this later. Please just focus on your reunion with your grandfather tonight."

His body hummed with excitement at the prospect.

-x-x-x-

For 268, awareness of other people's thoughts crept up slowly on him as the inhibitors wore off. At first, it was like trying to catch a tune that someone just within hearing range was humming. The first few thoughts that he tried to catch were faint and their elusiveness maddening. As the last of the suppressant cleared from his system in the next ten minutes, a tidal wave of thoughts washed over him. Someone in the crowd was worrying very loudly about a work project. Someone else was worried about dinner. Others about their love lives.

The initial rush shouldn't have caught him off guard. But it did, and the world spun briefly around him.

After he finally erected his mental defenses, he was surprised to find he was still on his feet. An arm around his waist and another solid body was keeping him from hitting the floor.

His "partner" remained silent. But then again, the other betaform hadn't said a word since they arrived in Domino an hour ago.

"You're not going to be any fun if you don't say anything. Or have those scientists successfully stamped out all independent thought?" 268 asked sarcastically.

"We have a mission," was the only reply given.

"Tch, all you later models are the same, I might as well be working with robots." He sneered, but guessed the emotion was probably wasted on his companion.

268 straightened up and waited for the other to let him go. Their quasi-embrace was beginning to draw the attention of other citizens. 275 eventually withdrew his arms after a strong nudge from 268.

He added "doesn't understand social norms" to the mental checklist of bugs.

275 returned to their list of suspected fronts for various resistance groups. They had already hit the first seven and came up empty with regard to their prey. Four were duds, but three were probable fronts. The company was going to send the police tips based on their report.

But there was something that was still bothering him and it should be bothering his partner more.

He waved the photo of Mutou Yuugi in front of the other's face. "Aren't you the least bit curious about this? He looks exactly like you."

275 glanced at the photo again out of the corner of his eyes. "There is some resemblance... Can we get back to work?"

268 threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine, what's next?"

"The Black Clown Shop."

-x-x-x-

It only took Yuugi several minutes to find the arrest warrants online. With the noted exception of Otogi and Rebecca, almost everyone in the house was considered a high-priority fugitive by the government—including himself. Seeing as most of the charges against him were made up, he wondered if it was the same for everyone else.

When he was linked to one for his grandfather, he quickly laid the tablet down and squeezed his eyes shut. He was in a lot of trouble... He was in so much trouble.

After a few moments of silence, someone spoke, "Is everything alright, Yuugi-kun?"

He cracked open one bleary eye; it was Ryou.

Yuugi held the tablet up, still displaying a copy of his arrest warrant. "What do I do now, Bakura-kun?"

The other man took the seat opposite of Yuugi. "There's only two options as far as I'm concerned. One, you can leave the country. Rebecca-chan has connections, and she can get you to America or Britain. It won't necessarily be easier out there, a lot of refugees are flooding into those countries. But the movement for IDS rights is more mainstream and overt. And they won't throw you into prison—not immediately anyway."

"And the other one?"

Ryou's smile vanished as he held Yuugi's gaze. "Stay here and fight with us. We'll change Japan from within."

Before he could say anything else, a tall blond man with sunglasses and an American flag bandana charged into the room. "Bakura, we got a big problem!"

"Jounouchi, turn that thing off."

"Opps, sorry." The man flickered for a moment before he was replaced with Jounouchi. "We just heard from Anzu, and it's bad. The police raided several store fronts in the last hour, including the Black Clown. Otogi's already on his way to handle things at the shop."

Ryou shot to his feet. "And Sugoroku-san?"

"Anzu had advanced notice and was able to move the old man first."

"So my grandfather is safe?" Yuugi's voice betrayed his anxiety.

Ryou nodded. "For now. Anzu may need some help smuggling him out of the city. I'm more concerned about these police raids. To coordinate the strikes so rapidly in succession means..."

"Something's up," Jounouchi finished. "The image boards are all abuzz."

"May I?" Ryou reached out for the tablet. Yuugi watched as the other man make a few swift gestures across the screen. "I found it, several groups are reporting that two men have been asking around about Jounouchi-kun, Honda-kun, and me. They're described as..." His gaze remained fixed on the screen as he trailed off.

"What is it?" Yuugi knitted his brow in confusion.

Ryou stopped in the doorway to address Jounouchi, "Get Kaiba-kun to prep an emitter for Yuugi-kun as well." Then he was gone like a blur of white.

Kaiba came into the room almost immediately after Ryou left. "Let's get this over, I need to be back in Domino before all of you make a move." The brunet deposited his briefcase on a nearby table before cracking it open. He pulled out several instruments, including what looked like a syringe gun. Kaiba marched over with the syringe gun and leaned forward. Yuugi grew increasingly uncomfortable as he realized how much Kaiba looked like Noah; they each had the same unwavering stare that sought to pierce one's soul. He pressed his back further into his seat in an effort to put some space between them.

"May I?" Jounouchi showed him the alcohol swab.

This was a bit too like his times at the lab. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Relax, we're going to fit you with a holo emitter, just like mine." Jounouchi pulled a small circular device from his jacket pocket. He pressed the button in the center, causing him to become the tall blond man from before. He reverted back to his normal appearance with another tap.

He still didn't like the idea.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes, and it felt like the room temperature dropped in that instant. "I expected more from Noah's secret weapon."

Anger and indignation bubbled to the surface. He felt caged again and backed into a corner. "I'm nobody's weapon!"

Jounouchi swooped in and swabbed his right biceps with the alcohol pad. At least the blond bothered with a semi-apologetic smile. He tried to move away first, but Kaiba was much faster than expected. The tall brunet pulled back with a self-satisfied grin, leaving Yuugi with a sore arm and wounded pride.

Kaiba reached over for another tool that looked like a long halogen light fixture. "Hold still."

Yuugi flinched slightly when the blue light hit his eyes. Kaiba passed the scanner down the length of Yuugi's body before consulting his tablet computer. After a few more moments of awkward silence, Kaiba held up another emitter device.

"I implanted a nanochip in your arm; it is keyed to only work with one emitter: yours. No emitter, no projection. The projection is just that: a hard light construct cast along a skin-tight matrix of your body. You have about an hour of total use between each charge. The hologram will not stand up to intense scrutiny and will not fool biometric—"

"Geeze, Kaiba," Jounouchi complained. "Only you could make cool spy stuff sound boring as hell. Give it a try, Yuugi."

Yuugi turned the device over a few times. Despite its small size, it was about as heavy as small book. He pressed the button in the center and felt a brief flush of heat wash over his body. Looking down, he found himself clad in a long sleeve green jacket and pasty white skin.

"Uh... wow..."

He stood up and went to the bathroom. An entirely new person stared back from the mirror; a boy with an ugly bowl cut and large coke bottle glasses. He stared at the reflection, before hesitantly reaching up to poke his cheek. The image may have flickered when he poked himself harder.

"So, kid," Jounouchi, with his emitter on, hovered in the doorway and fixed his sunglasses. "Ready to rock and roll?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Yami Yuugi and Yami Bakura have shown up! Now the real fun begins.
> 
> Yes, Jounouchi's holo identity is Bandit Keith and Yuugi's is Insector Haga/Weevil. Everyone else's holo identity will be seen next chapter.


	3. Scaffolding

A half an hour later, Yuugi found himself stuffed in the backseat of an old station wagon with Jounouchi, Honda, and Ryou. Kaiba had thankfully left soon after installing the holo-emitter. He looked over at Rebecca, who was buckling into the driver's seat, and asked, "Should she be driving?"

She turned slightly and winked, "Do you not trust my driving, darling?"

Yuugi remained quiet as they pulled away from the front door, following the long cement driveway leading away from the house. In the daylight, Yuugi could see that the house was even larger than he first anticipated. As he wondered just who owned the spacious property, they turned onto the main road and passed a sign with the Kaiba family name. Yuugi was even more relieved to leave the house behind.

Amane caught his gaze in the rear view mirror and gave a small smile. "We're only about 40 minutes away from the city."

After pressing a few buttons on the dash, Rebecca reported, "Traffic looks light, they must have issued an advisory for people to keep travel to a minimal. We should be there in about half an hour."

Somewhere along the seemingly endless stretch of countryside, Yuugi must have fallen asleep. Because the next time he opened his eyes, all he could see was a curtain of white. Panicking for a brief moment, he struggled until a soft-feathered touch on his shoulder calmed him.

"It's okay, Yuugi-kun."

His cheeks burned as he pulled away from Ryou's shoulder. "Sorry."

Then there was the reflection of Jounouchi's smirk in the rear view mirror.

"We're nearing the checkpoint, be ready to turn on your emitters in about five miles." Rebecca looked completely focused on her task.

The checkpoint set up at a toll booth was easy to spot on the horizon. A single line of other cars had stopped behind it. Everyone but Rebecca activated their emitters almost in unison. He fumbled with his own device for a few seconds before turning it on.

Honda, who had become a bulkier man with sharper hair and a chiseled chin, asked, "Did Kaiba pick that for you? He is such an ass."

Yuugi nodded.

"We can't all get to be pretty boys like Bakura." Jounouchi's muscled American teased.

Ryou's long hair was now teal, and he glared at Jounouchi with his heterochromic eyes. Amane, transformed into a woman with long black hair tied in buns and shapely hazel eyes, reached back to swat Jounouchi. The blond laughed and leaned back just out of reach.

Despite the light teasing, Yuugi could still sense the tension in the air. Everyone else was just as nervous as he was. As they pulled closer, he noticed the two soldiers with large rifles patrolling the perimeter. Large posters of his arrest warrant were taped up on the side of the building.

Yuugi's heart began pounding.

"Shit," Honda sunk back into his seat. "They're on red alert."

Their car slowly edged toward the front of the line. Yuugi watched as they searched the vehicles in front of them. Several people were even pulled out and patted down.

"They're not going to do that with us, right?" he asked.

No one answered him.

One of the guards tapped on the driver-side window, and Rebecca rolled it down with a warm and welcoming smile. "Good afternoon!"

"Papers?"

The guard shuffled through the papers and passports handed to him. He stopped over one passport in particular while staring very openly at Rebecca, which he then handed over to another soldier that retreated into the small building. Yuugi had to admire her unfaltering performance. He wasn't sure he could do the same in her situation. When the guard analyzed the rest of the passengers, Yuugi was only able to meet the gaze for a few moments before breaking it. He stared at the building wall and at the myriad of other arrest warrants posted.

"What were you all doing in Chiba?" The guard finally asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Honda pointed at the content of the tailgate. "We were camping."

Yuugi had wondered why the trunk was packed with outdoor gear.

The soldier finally reemerged from the building with Rebecca's American passport in hand. Yuugi's muscles tensed as he strained to hear what the two guards were saying to each other. The first guard leaned against the car and stuck his head through the window. He handed the stack of documents back to Rebecca, "Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. Please have a nice day."

The guard did one last sweep, his gaze lingering on Yuugi a bit. He finally pulled back and waved them past. When they were finally out of the sight of the outpost, they all breathed a loud sigh of relief.

"I thought we were all going to die," Honda muttered.

"Kaiba said Noah wanted the kid back badly, but this is a bit of an overkill though."

Even Rebecca frowned as she spoke, "They don't usually verify my papers like that. Good call, Ryou."

"Rebecca, they let us through because of you, didn't they?" Yuugi asked quietly.

"I guess you could say that." Her eyes remained focused on the road ahead and the city skyline rising above the horizon.

-x-x-x-

268 preferred not to resort to weapons during interrogation, especially guns. They tended to rouse strong emotions that only made it harder to skim deeper thoughts under the incessant mental stream of "please don't kill me." Knives, in addition to being more personal, didn't tend to scare everyone that saw one into an absolute but useless state of terror.

He leaned further over the slumped figure of the boy, whose nametag read "Ryuuzaki." His long shadow cast a stretch of darkness across the lit parts of the alleyway. He tapped the muzzle of his pistol against the other's head.

"Now tell me where Jounouchi Katsuya and Honda Hiroto and their people are!" he growled.

It hadn't taken long to run across other rebels and accomplices that knew Jounouchi and Honda. The two apparently ran with a small and tight cell, but 268 had yet to actually run across another member. This one was an employee of the Black Clown store that 268 plucked off the streets during a lunch break. This one had actually seen Jounouchi and Honda in the last 48 hours.

"Please don't shoot me," begged the idiot on the ground.

Please don't shoot me, echoed in his head.

He threw his hands up in the air, fingers itching to pull the trigger in frustration. "You!" he addressed his partner hiding in the shadows. "Do something useful. Or are you just planning on standing there all day?"

The way 275 slid out of the darkness reminded him of several xenos that 268 was well-acquainted with. Their captive tried to shrink back against the wall of the building.

Where did he come from?

"He was here the entire time, you little fucker," he snapped.

275 seemed to glide up to Ryuuzaki, who was quick to eye the holstered weapon visible under the fold of 275's long coat. The other betaform knelt down and placed a hand on either of the boy's shoulder. When Ryuuzaki tried to pull away, 275 tightened his hold.

"Tell us what you know about those two."

268 was taken aback by the sudden forcefulness of his partner's tone. Ryuuzaki stopped struggling though. Upon closer inspection, his eyes were glazed over.

"Tell us what you know about the store," 275 asked again.

Ryuuzaki straightened up before saying, "I don't know where Jounouchi and Honda are. But Otogi-san was trying to hide someone in the store when you first came in."

"Who?"

"I don't know, some old man. A woman came and took him away before the police raid."

268 was able to piece together a mental image from Ryuuzaki's open mind. "It's the target's family."

275 just nodded. "And the woman?"

"Never seen her before today."

Once again, 268 was able to visualize her face as Ryuuzaki recalled her.

"Now sleep and try to forget." 275 commanded.

When 275 pulled away from the now unconscious Ryuuzaki, 268 crossed his arms over his chest and glared. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

The other betaform took the pistol that 268 was tapping against his forearm and re-holstered it. "My ability is only effective given constant eye contact. It's more like hypnosis, and it's difficult to make them do anything that strongly goes against their personalities. It's not foolproof."

"And here I'm just little old outdated me with my telepathy," he grumbled.

"Actually, I can also read minds. But from my understanding, my range is much smaller as a tradeoff for more effective readings." There was a hint of a smirk as the other betaform turned away.

268 cursed and stormed out of the alley.

-x-x-x-

Rebecca dropped Yuugi, Ryou, and Jounouchi off near a train station. She, Amane, and Honda were going to try and investigate the source of the police raids. Yuugi felt completely dwarfed by the skyscrapers around him. There were people everywhere: office workers, students, and parents with their children. That's when he realized it was Saturday.

He had never been able to keep track of the days of the week inside his cell.

"We have to go, Yuugi-kun," Ryou urged him gently toward the station. "Anzu's apartment is five stops away."

Looking into Ryou's eyes, Yuugi guessed they felt similar. This was no longer a world they could be part of—not until everything changed first.

The train ride was mostly uneventful, except for the brave and blushing schoolgirl that asked for Ryou's email. After Ryou politely refused her, Jounouchi tried to cheer her up but only succeeded in scaring her off and then spent the next four stops pouting. After getting off the train, Ryou led them to a tall apartment building two blocks from the station. Before they entered the building though, they took a detour around the side of the building where Jounouchi then summoned a small humanoid creature to play lookout. They then scaled the fire escape to a window on the eighth floor.

Jounouchi pried the window open from the outside and ushered them in. They'd climbed into to what looked like someone's bedroom.

"Is this a good idea?" Yuugi asked.

"Who's there?" A woman wielding a bat demanded as she stepped out of the shadow of the doorway.

Jounouchi quickly powered down his emitter. "Wait, Anzu, it's us."

She flicked on the lights, momentarily blinding Yuugi. Anzu was a young woman probably about his age. She had shoulder-length brown hair and was currently dressed in a two-piece business suit. She lowered her bat and breathed a loud sigh of relief. "You should have told me you were coming."

Ryou turned off his own emitter. "I'm sorry, Anzu-san. We caught the rumors that people from Kaiba Corp may be looking for Yuugi. We didn't want to risk giving him away. But we need to get him and his grandfather out of the country."

He looked to the white-haired man in surprise. There hadn't been any talk about going anywhere before this.

Jounouchi nudged him. "You can turn off your emitter, you're safe here for now."

"Would you like to see your grandfather, Yuugi-kun?" Ryou asked.

"Sugoroku-san is out in the living room," Anzu smiled as she stepped out of the doorway and gestured in the distance.

The three others shooed him from the room. They said they had some business to discuss and quickly closed the door behind them. Yuugi remain frozen in the hallway, half disbelieving the fact his grandfather was here. He could hear noise coming from the living room. The first few steps he took were heavy and unsure, but he quickly gained momentum as reality finally sunk in.

"Jii-chan!" he screamed.

When he was younger, Mutou Sugoroku had been a bold explorer that often traveled to archaeological digs all over the world. Yuugi only saw his grandfather on holidays and birthdays. His visits often brought strange trinkets and even stranger tales.

His grandfather was smaller and had more gray hair than Yuugi recalled. Tears welled in his eyes.

"Can I help you, young man?" Sugoroku asked politely, but his posture was guarded.

It took him a moment to realize his emitter was still on. He hastily deactivated the device, and his grandfather's eyes widened while mirroring the same tears.

"Yuugi!"

Before he could say anything else, his grandfather barreled forth and nearly tackled him to the floor. When Yuugi was a child, he was often bullied by his classmates—for being too quiet, for being too shy, for his hair, or any other number of imagined offenses. Though his mother fought that long uphill battle by his side everyday, it had ultimately been Sugoroku that convinced him he could overcome. Yuugi couldn't stop his tears with the familiar feel of his grandfather's embrace wrapped around him.

"I missed you so much, Jii-chan!" His words were muffled against the side of his grandfather's head.

Sugoroku's grip tightened. "I never stopped looking for you, Yuugi. Your mother will be so glad to see you again."

He pulled back enough just to look into his grandfather's face. "Where is Okaa-san?"

"She's safe. Your mother has been staying with my friend Arthur in America." Sugoroku stroked Yuugi's hair gently. The familiar gesture helped to put him at ease again. "I'll make sure you join her soon."

"Why are they still after me?"

"Because you're very special, my boy."

"And why are they after you, Jii-chan?"

"Because Sugoroku-san is our leader," Ryou said from behind them. "I apologize for interrupting, but I'm afraid we don't have much time."

Although he was reluctant to, Yuugi released his grandfather and stepped away. He had his suspicions when he found Sugoroku's arrest warrant, but the idea that his grandfather led a rebel group was mind-boggling. "Is that true, Jii-chan? Does Okaa-san know?"

"Yes, your mother knows. I started doing this to look for you, Yuugi. And I've finally found you." Sugoroku reached out and ruffled his hair. "How bad is it out there, Bakura-kun?"

"With the police raids, several groups have gone completely silent. Even more are refusing to help us; they think this is our fault. No one wants to take the heat." Ryou was watching a monitor on the other side of the room; they were showing a live feed of the building's front door and lobby.

"Hey Anzu, who tipped the cops off anyway?" Jounouchi asked. "And aren't you going to blow your cover like this?"

She sat down in front of her laptop on the coffee table and typed a few things on the keyboard. "It's my day off actually. That backdoor that Rebecca had me install on the city system flagged the orders coming through the system. The tips came straight from KaibaCorp headquarters; city hall expedited the orders to the police without any further investigation." She finished with a deep frown.

"If it came directly from KaibaCorp, it would explain why the city is under red alert. We all know Kaiba Gozaburo has had Domino's city government in his pocket for years and uses the police as his own private security force."

Sugoroku met Ryou's gaze evenly. "Do you think the rumors about your pursuers are true?"

The white-haired man nodded hesitantly. "We've known for sometime that the Kaiba Corporation has been experimenting with new techniques. We just didn't know how much progress they've made. I think it safe to say that they've done pretty well so far."

Yuugi raised one hand to catch someone's attention. "Can I ask who you're talking about?"

The others all shared a telling glance with each other.

"Yuugi—"

His grandfather was interrupted when Jounouchi gave a loud gasp of pain and stumbled on his feet. Anzu dove forward to catch the blond and pulled him down on the couch.

"Someone just took out Little-Winguard," Jounouchi gasped.

On the feed showing the building lobby, Yuugi saw a familiar person cross the threshold of the door and went straight toward the elevators. He moved toward the screens. He needed to confirm for himself what he thought he saw.

"We need to go," Ryou grabbed Yuugi's shoulders and steered him away. "Now."

"But I think I just saw myself!" Yuugi protested.

"Go!" Anzu ordered. "I'll try and hold him off."

"No, Anzu, you should come with us. If they're here, then your cover is already compromised." Sugoroku thrust her laptop into her hands and pushed her toward bedroom. "You'll end up in jail or worse."

Yuugi craned his neck to get another look at the security feed. But everyone else around him was already moving toward the fire escape. Anzu pulled two duffel bags from her bedroom closet and tossed one to Jounouchi, who was already halfway out the window. When she tried to hand the other one to Ryou and pull back, Jounouchi pulled her onto the fire escape. Yuugi was next. Soon everyone was scrambling down the fire escape.

On the ground floor, the others immediately turned on their emitters.

"We need to split up. They're going to be looking for a group of us." Jounouchi suggested. "Bakura, take Yuugi and Anzu. I'll take Gramps here."

"But Jii-chan—"

"It's okay, Yuugi. Go with Bakura-kun. We'll see you in just a bit."

Ryou nodded. "We'll meet at the usual place."

Jounouchi gave a thumbs-up before following Sugoroku around the other side of the building. As Yuugi charged out onto the crowded streets with Ryou and Anzu, his grandfather was no longer in sight.

They squeezed onto a train going into the opposite direction than the one they first came in. They remained silent the entire ride. But Anzu clutched her laptop tightly against her chest and was constantly looking over her shoulders.

He tugged on Ryou's shirt lightly. "Who was that man in the lobby?"

The white-haired man shook his head. "Later, this is not the place." He returned to staring out the train window.

Yuugi chewed lightly on the inside of his cheek. He had no idea where they were headed and no idea where his grandfather was. He jumped a little when a hand landed on his shoulder.

It was Anzu; she was trying her best to put on a brave face. "Don't worry, Yuugi-kun. Jounouchi will take good care of Sugoroku-san."

"Have we met before, Anzu-san?" Yuugi had the familiar feeling from the first time he saw her.

Her smile widened a bit. "I thought you'd forgotten. I'm Mazaki Anzu, we were in the same class in grade 8."

Yuugi's memories from before his incarceration were admittedly a bit blurry. He didn't have many friends before going into the program, and he had never been very popular with his classmates. But when he thought hard about it, he recalled a female classmate that would regularly greet him with smile. She was one of the few that bothered.

He couldn't remember what she looked like though.


	4. Self-Interest Orientation

They transferred back and forth between several lines for the next half-hour to throw off anyone who might be tailing them. After they finally got off the train, they made the rest of the journey by foot. The buildings were more noticeably run-down, and the majority of storefronts were shuttered. It almost felt like they had stepped into a completely city. The few people they passed on the streets eyed them with open suspicion. Yuugi couldn't shake the feeling that their every move was being watched.

"Are we almost there?" Anzu asked, starting to limp in her two-inch heels.

"We're headed to the pier so there's still a bit of a ways to go." Ryou smiled apologetically. His back was still rigid with tension.

"I don't remember this neighborhood being so bad before." Yuugi wondered aloud.

A majority of the people he spotted in the neighborhood wore the red collars that identified them as low-powered IDS. He thought back to when they were in the heart of downtown Domino, where there were so many more people. But he hadn't seen anyone with a red collar then.

Anzu shook her head. "This is what happens when you cut the majority of social welfare programs. The government's policies toward IDS have effectively created a new socioeconomic underclass. There may not be any laws explicitly limiting opportunities available to IDS, but..."

"It's easy to discriminate against us when they make us wear such obvious markers." Yuugi instinctively touched his new scar on the back of his neck. KaibaCorp had effective subcutaneous trackers; the visible red ones were meant to maintain the culture of fear.

"Unless you have wealthy or influential family, most marked IDS end out here on the edges of society. The police doesn't play us much attention out here, and we're still prey to gangs and the yakuza." Ryou checked around again to see if they were being followed.

They went the last several blocks in silence. But Yuugi could hear the sound of the ocean as they neared the docks. They moved swiftly between the shadows cast by the many abandoned warehouses with broken windows, graffitied walls, and caved-in roofs.

"We have a safe house here. We should be able to load up on some supplies there and then get you and Sugoroku-san out of—" Ryou was cut off when a pair of arms reached out of the gap between two buildings and grabbed him.

"Bakura-kun!" Without a second thought, Yuugi dove into the alley after Ryou. After his first step though, he realized how poorly thought-out his plan was. He should have taken an extra moment to prepare a summon, or at least assess the situation. But all he could think about was Ryou. Someone grabbed his shoulder from behind. Yuugi lashed out blindly; his fists collided with something soft and produced the satisfying sound of landing a blow. His assailant let out a long and pained groan.

"Yuugi, calm down. It's us!" Jounouchi, still disguised in his holo image, grabbed both of Yuugi's arms to stop him. His grandfather and Amane were also there.

Yuugi twisted his head to find Honda groaning and bent over a trash can. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, Honda-kun. I didn't know it was you."

"You hit a lot harder than expected," Honda wheezed in reply.

"Sorry to surprise you guys like that," Jounouchi let go of his arms and pointed at the end of the alley. "We had to stay out of sight. There are some Kaiba goons up ahead. They've already surrounded the warehouse, we can't use it anymore."

Yuugi ducked under Jounouchi and dashed to the end of the alleyway. He peeked around the corner of the building, making sure to keep in the shadow of the buildings. It was like the blond said: there were a number of black vans with the KC logos parked in front of a building several hundred feet away. Men and women dressed in KC uniforms or black suits were patrolling the area. He even spotted a few who appeared to be scientists.

A splash of unexpected color in the epicenter of the group caught his attention. His heart froze. Even with distance between them, it was hard to mistake the hairstyle and color: his own hair. This person's back was turned toward Yuugi as he stood next to another man with long white hair like Ryou's. Yuugi leaned more heavily against the side of the building, squinting to get a better look at his doppleganger.

Suddenly, the doppleganger turned in Yuugi's direction. He stumbled back in the alley to be caught by Jounouchi. He wasn't seen, was he?

"Come on, we can't stay here."

They took off running again in the opposite direction. Yuugi's lungs burned, full of fear and dread.

-x-x-x-

275 had to wonder how 268 graduated the program with his attitude and temper. His instructors had always emphasized a clear head and a steady mind. There was no room for emotions in their line of work, not when they clouded judgment and rushed plans to disastrous avenues before completion.

Though Mazaki Anzu's apartment was empty when he kicked in the front door, the kettle of water on the stove was still warm. But 268, who had been left behind to cover the building's front entrance, managed to find a needle in the haystack. 268 stalked the train of agitated thoughts, even though he couldn't pinpoint its source. Across transfers over several metro lines, he was mentally able to eavesdrop on where their prey were headed before finally losing track in the crowds.

275 remained behind and searched through the apartment. They had left nothing of interest behind, except for the survillance system made of components he recognized as part of a KC shipment stolen several months ago. It was enough to convince the authorities to put a freeze on Mazaki Anzu's bank account. After sending their reports to headquarters, they each independently made their way to the location 268 had discovered. They weren't the only ones though.

"What do you think you're doing? Whoever organized this tactical strike is a moron!" 268 settled on punching the van since the captain's face was not an option. "You might as well have thrown a parade and set off fireworks telling them we're here!"

Just when it looked like they were at the end of their little game of cat and mouse, corporate blew it by sending a full gear tactical unit.

The team captain, who had introduced himself as Ushio, sneered in return. "Your report to headquarters contained vital information about a terrorist hideout. It was top priority that we move in before they had a chance to scrub the place."

"At the expense of our mission?"

"That's your own problem, vat scum."

268's temper exploded. He grabbed Ushio by the collar and pinned him against a van. "It's going to be a problem for you soon enough." He wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the knife strapped to his thigh and ripped it out. As he raised the weapon high to strike Ushio, 275 wrenched his wrist back, causing 268 to let go of the blade.

"Stop it," 275 hoped his partner still remembered enough for the simple statement to suffice. Murdering a corporate security officer was probably the type of offense that would get their collars activated.

268 snarled, picked up his blade, and walked away.

He addressed Ushio instead. "Go."

Ushio gritted his teeth before giving into the command. 275 was mildly pleased to find the officer was not as strong as he pretended to be. He found 268 at the edge of the perimeter, cursing though the unlit cigarette between his teeth. It was probably futile to comment on how smoking was against regulations. He watched for several more moments as the other betaform tried to unsuccessfully light match after match. He snatched the matchbook away and lit the last match left. 268 snarled audibly again but maneuvered his body into position to shield the small flame from the ocean wind.

"I hate this job," 268 muttered between puffs of tar and poison. "Sometimes."

"We don't have a choice."

268 spent the next few minutes nursing his smoke and staring at the waves. It was impossible to know what he was thinking about; betaforms were specifically engineered to be shielded from mind probing powers themselves. Even with all of 275's training in reading body language and micro-expressions wasn't any help here. He leaned back against the van and stared out over the thrashing waves. Intellectually, 275 knew there was a whole wide world out there, but he would probably never see or experience it for himself. The thought of billions of other lives and millions of acres of land beyond the water was almost humbling—if he actually knew the meaning of the word.

Suddenly, 275 felt a strange sensation running down his neck. It was hard to describe, as if something long and furry was crawling down his back. His shoulder muscles twitched and spasmed as he couldn't rid himself of the feeling that he was being watched. He spun quickly with his coat tail whipping around frantically. He scanned the buildings for signs of life as he pushed his abilities to their limit to catch ear of any other persons hidden in sight. But all he could hear were the monotonous thoughts of corporate drones at work, shifting through junk and recording their findings.

"What's up?" 268 asked. "You're acting all jumpy."

His partner had a much larger range for his telepathic abilities. "Is there someone out there?" he demanded.

268 furrowed his eyebrow in concentration, staring unblinkingly through the smoke filtered from his cigarette. "No, just us. They probably ran as soon as they saw our little welcoming party."

275 rubbed the back of his neck furiously. The strange feeling was fading, but the lingering sensation was even more irritating.

"Here," 268 offered him his half-smoked cigarette. "I don't know what's eating you, but you look like you need it more."

He grasped the smoke awkwardly between his thumb and index finger. The first inhale brought up a cough that rattled his body, but perseverance and the second inhale calmed his nerves somewhat. "Why do you bother with this?"

268 shrugged briefly. "It makes me feel hu- normal. Come on, we need to get moving before their trail goes cold."

275 looked down at his shoes and took one last drag from the cigarette. He marveled at how the smoke made his lungs burn.

-x-x-x-

By the time Yuugi and the others arrived at their destination, their emitters were almost out of juice. Yuugi watched as the others, one by one, turned their devices off and ducked into the building. The building had no signage, only a blacked out window protected by thick steel bars and a heavy metal door that he strained to push open by himself. It took him several moments to adjust to the darkness inside and the smoke choking out fresh air. To their left was a dusty bartop manned by a surly looking bartender; and perched on the first stool was an eerily lifelike statue of a winged harpy with electric pink hair and razor sharp talons. It returned Yuugi's stare without blinking or moving, but he still couldn't be sure it wasn't real.

Meanwhile, several other patrons turned in their booths to observe the group's entrance. He quickly followed the others to the back of the bar where they ensconced themselves in the corner around a few square tables. The eyes that stalked their progress reluctantly turned back to their drinks.

"You shouldn't be here," a new female voice said suddenly almost as soon as they sat down.

Everyone else's gaze was fixated on the space above Yuugi. When he tilted his head back to follow their collective gaze, he was greeted by the sight of a vulptuous older woman with long blond hair. Jounouchi jumped up from his seat and wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders. Although she looked like she wanted to return the gesture for a moment, she ultimately pushed him away.

She turned to the rest of the bar and declared sternly, "We're closed for business today. Get out."

None of the customers raised any complaints as they all gulped down the rest of their drinks and waddled out the front door without a word. The bartender locked the door behind the last of them.

She turned back to address the group of them at the tables with her arms folded across her bosom. "I can't have you guys here, not now with those two jackals on your tail."

"Mai, we just need a second to catch our breath. We'll be gone soon," Jounouchi tried to reassure her.

Kujaku Mai shook her head. "More than half of the network has gone underground in the wake of what's happening. Whatever you did to piss off KaibaCorp, deal with it on your own. If you're smart, you'll get out of this bar and out of this city while you can."

"We're trying," Ryou's expression was equally grim. "But they seem to be two steps ahead of us. We've burned through most of our immediate resources, and we've been cut off from our reserves. Please help us, Mai-san. We just need to smuggle Yuugi-kun and Sugoroku-san out of Domino. There must be someone still willing to work with us."

Mai looked down at Yuugi; her expression softening momentarily. "Usually, I would refer you to my contact in the Yamaguchi-gumi, but..." her voice suddenly dropped several notches into a whisper. "Do you realize that each of you at this table are individually worth a few million yen? People are doing you a favor by not immediately turning you in."

Everyone at the table exchanged the same nervous glance.

"They wouldn't," Amane chewed on her lower lips. "This is a fight we're all in together."

Mai shrugged. "I guess you'll find out how much it takes for people to sell out their principles. Take my advice, it's not safe for you anywhere in Domino."

Jounouchi grabbed her arm before she could walk away. "Please, Mai, we know we're in trouble. We wouldn't put you in this position if we weren't out of options."

"Jounouchi, my hands are also tied. Even if they don't sell you out, there are too many more who won't even touch you with a ten-feet pole right now. There's just too much heat. Your group has always been particularly good at hiding and evading the law, put those skills to good use." That was the last thing she said before she slipped into the back room followed by the bartender, who shot Jounouchi a dirty glare.

"At least she didn't kick us out," Amane muttered.

"This may be our only chance to regroup for a while. We should make the best of it." Ryou pulled out his tablet and began working.

"How the hell did they find us so quickly?" Honda muttered quietly. It was the question on everyone's mind.

Yuugi was more concerned about his doppleganger though.

"The more important question is how they knew about the warehouse. Do you think we're bugged?" Jounouchi started patting down his jacket.

It was frustrating how no one else seemed concerned at all.

Ryou shook his head. "Kaiba-kun gave us each a jammer, and if KaibaCorp had somehow managed to overcome them, Kaiba-kun would have made adjustments."

It almost felt like they were trying to hide things from him.

Yuugi grabbed Ryou's sleeve and tugged, "Bakura-kun, what about Rebecca-san?" He was worried from the moment he realized the young woman was nowhere to be seen when they met again at the docks.

"Don't worry, Rebecca's fine. She'll contact us through the usual channels once she's arranged for a way to take you out of the country." Ryou gave a smile that was meant to be reassuring. "We need to start making our way to Tokyo. I wouldn't be surprised if KaibaCorp closes the city's borders soon."

"And Otogi-san?"

"He'll have a lot to deal with because of the police. But they won't be able to pin anything on him, we were very careful not to leave any incriminating evidence there." Ryou's matter-of-fact manner did little to assuage Yuugi's fear.

"We've survived lockdowns before." Jounouchi didn't sound as confident as he wanted to.

Sugoroku spoke suddenly from his end of the table. "Yes, but we've never been targeted like this before. Whatever KaibaCorp is doing differently this time, it's effective. They've taken our main base of operation and alienated us from all our potential allies and usual partners."

"We should eliminate the source of our troubles, take a stand." Amane's suggestion caught everyone by surprise.

"But we have no idea what the extent of their abilities are," said Anzu. "They could be the trap."

It seemed Yuugi was the only one unsure of exactly who "they" were. But he had the feeling that one of them was his doppleganger.

"We will need to face them eventually, if only to find out how far Noah has gotten. Our first priority at this time is still to get Yuugi to safety." His grandfather met his gaze across the length of the table.

"Back at Anzu-san's apartment, that man who looked lik—"

Yuugi nearly fell out of his seat when a high pitched shriek pierced the air. He turned to the source and watched in amazement as what he previously thought was a statue hopped off the barstool. Mai and her bartender barreled back into the room. The woman went straight past the rest of the group and to the harpy creature. He watched in amazement as the harpy leaned in toward Mai's ears as if to whisper something.

"Is that...?" he asked.

"That's Mai's main xeno. She's an IDS just like us." Jounouchi confirmed. "Mai, what's happening?"

"Celaeno has spotted your jackals a few blocks away from here. All of you need to leave. Jounouchi, you remember the escape route, right?"

The blond man nodded, "Yeah."

"Good, take your friends and go," she commanded, but her eyes were never drawn away from the front door.

"Mai-san, you should come with us." Panic was beginning to tinge Ryou's voice.

"No, I am not leaving. This is my bar," she snapped. Her bartender raced past, hopped over the bar, and pulled out a shotgun. Yuugi watched as the bartender loaded two shells into the double barrels.

"You're not going to win this fight," said Sugoroku.

"I don't care, I'm not going to let them run me out of my own place. You're wasting valuable time here. Go see Amelda, he may be able to help you. I called ahead and told him you were coming."

"Mai—" Jounouchi was quickly cut off by her.

"Jounouchi, you of all people should know how stubborn I am. I'll be fine. Valon will help me," The harpy moved suddenly again, stretching its wings outward before draping them protectively around Mai's body. The flapping sent several loose feathers flying through the air. "And I have them."


	5. Initiative

Almost as soon as Jounouchi and his group ducked through the back door, there was a loud bang before a dent appeared on the metal doors. Aello tensed and drew her wings closer around Mai. There was probably another xeno on the other side of that door. The next impact was even louder and knocked all the pictures on the wall askew. The third one sent several bottles of liquor behind the bar tumbling down into pieces.

"Mai, are you sure about this?" Valon asked.

"You can go too. You don't need to be here." But she already knew what his response would be. He was about as stubborn as she was.

"There's no way in hell I'd leave you behind." He cocked the shotgun.

The fourth impact was the final one that dislodged the entire doorframe and sent their last barrier to the floor. Two men flanked by a large horned xeno stepped into her bar; they were in her territory now. So these were the two men with wild hair tearing through Domino's underground; one of them looked almost exactly like Ryou and the other was a mirror image of the new boy with Jounouchi.

But no one was ever going to mistake them as either Ryou or Yuugi.

Both of their gazes focused briefly on the harpy next to Mai.

The shorter one spoke, "Another unregistered IDS."

"Get out of our way," the tall white-haired one commanded.

She narrowed her eyes. "Never."

The shorter one charged. Valon leapt over the bar into his path and fired the shotgun at the oncoming target. The bullet bounced harmlessly off the shield of a second xeno that appeared in front of 275. 268 came flying out from behind the xeno's shield, knocking Valon back over the bar and discharging the shotgun's last round straight up into the ceiling. Mai barely had time to register anything that was happening when Aello threw Mai back and grappled the other xeno to the floor. Aello knocked the large shield into a nearby booth, crushing the bench seats. The harpy aimed for the other creature's throat, but her sharp talons only met the wooden floor when it vanished.

Valon picked himself off the floor and swung a punch at 268. The white-haired man smirked, as if internally laughing, and ducked under the swing. Mai watched with horror as he drew a long knife and drove it through Valon's shoulder blade, pinning him into the wall like a butterfly in a collection. Valon screamed in pain as blood gushed down his chest.

"You don't want to fight us," 275 said quietly.

"You're going to pay. Ocypete!"

Another harpy crashed through the ceiling, grabbed 275, and flew back outside. 268 cursed loudly and took off after his partner outside. Aello pursued while Mai rushed over to Valon. The knife in his shoulder was lodged deeper than she expected, but they needed to stop the bleeding. Valon's eyes were glazed over with pain.

"I'm going to remove this, okay?"

He nodded slowly.

The blade slid out smoothly. It reminded her of a knife cutting through butter; the thought made her stomach churn uncomfortably. Her hands came away wet and sticky with his blood. She pressed a washcloth against his wound, but the white fabric quickly turned red. Valon reached up, covered her hand with his.

"I'm okay, Mai. Go."

He always did know what she was thinking.

"I'll be right back once I take care of them," she promised.

She needed to distract these guys long enough for Jounouchi and the others to get away. She was going to make them both pay for what they did to Valon. Outside, Ocypete had dropped 275 on the sidewalk. A knife laid on the ground several feet away and streaks of red flowed from the open gash on Ocypete's right arm. 268 was standing over his partner, but he wasn't helping the shorter man up.

"I found them. They're heading west," 268's eyes were glazed over and fixed on an unseen spot several rooftop away.

"Let's go," 275 climbed to his feet and headed in the direction his partner had indicated.

She didn't know how they knew. She wasn't going to let them get away, not without returning a few good hits on Valon's behalf. And if she distracted them long enough, Jounouchi and the others would be able to get safely to Amelda's.

Celaeno swooped in from the perch where she previously sat on lookout. She moved to cut off the two men's escape route before Mai could even issue the order. Her chest swelled with pride. "You're not going anywhere."

"You should go help your friend." There was something irritatingly smug about the way the shorter man spoke. Mai decided she was going to show him up first. Her harpies tightened the circle around the two men.

A rush of the wind was the only warning before the horned xeno from before reappeared at 275's side. The hair on the back of her neck stood on its end when she realized he didn't need words to complete the summon. He pointed at her and his xeno charged at her.

"Sparrow formation!"

Celaeno and Ocypete flew over and joined Aello to form a wall against the oncoming xeno. They each grabbed one of the creatures horns to push back. The four creatures skidded to a slow halt, leaving claw marks and scratches etched into the asphalt. The force of their collision left Mai momentarily breathless, but she watched with satisfaction when the same force made 275 stumble back a few steps.

"Interesting," was all he had to say.

Battle made Mai's blood sing. She didn't often get the chance to use her harpies for more than intelligence and counter-surveillance. It made them edgy at times, like birds confined to cages too small for them. She knew their pulses were racing with the same excitement coursing through her veins.

With a sudden burst of strength, 275's xeno threw off the three harpies. Aello, Celaeno, and Ocypete took to the air, where they would have the tactical advantage. They circled their foe like vultures.

Mai smirked. No matter how strong he might be, it was still three versus one. Her harpies had both cunning and strategy on their side.

One by one, the harpies dove down from the sky like bombs. The other xeno nimbly dodged the first two assaults, but was caught offguard by talons when they successfully feinted while it was trying to avoid Aello. Celaeno's powerful wings sent up gusts of wind that made it hard for 275's xeno to advance forward. Ocypete left several bleeding gashes along the beast's broad back. It howled in fury and pain.

"You command them like a well-trained army," 268 had to almost shout to be heard over the commotion of the xenos.

Mai bared her teeth in a wide ruthless grin. "You brought every ounce of this upon yourselves, traitors."

There was the hint of a smirk on 268's face. "Traitors?"

"You're an IDS just like me, just like those people you're hunting. Instead of helping us, you ally with the enemy against your own interests, against the greater good. Don't you see what KaibaCorp is trying to do?"

"We follow orders," 275 spoke, like it was an absolute fact. "Don't presume us to be the same, we are so much more than you."

"Go to hell," she snarled. She whipped out the pistol tucked in her waistband and fired at 275. He danced out of the bullet's path with a speed not humanly possible. Her mind barely registered the fact that 268 had thrown something in her direction. Something sharp grazed her cheek, leaving a sting and a trail of wetness in its wake.

"Careful," it was the first time she had seen the shorter betaform look almost angry. "We need to take her alive."

"I know what I'm doing." Another blade was drawn from inside 268's trenchcoat.

A high-pitched shriek drew her attention back to the battling xenos. Her harpies were baiting the horned beast, confident in their victory. But the beast suddenly jumped pinning Aello to the ground. Aello screeched again, limbs and wings flailing to escape the beast's grip. Without any regards to its own life, the beast's jaws open and lunged for the pinned harpy's throat.

"No!"

Mai dismissed her beloved harpy with dizzying speed. The beast's jaws met only thin air. It snarled, turned, and pounced on Ocypete. Blood was gushing from the many wounds inflicted on its body, but it showed no signs of slowing or relenting. The realization that it didn't care about its own well-being left a sick feeling in Mai's stomach.

"What are you doing?" she screamed. "You're going to get your xeno killed."

"They're just tools."

The rage was dizzying and it went straight to her brain.

Celaeno lunged to save Ocypete when the beast wheeled around and swatted her with its giant paw. Celaeno reeled back quickly, trying to fly away, when it snapped its jaws closed around one of her legs. It dragged her screaming and flapping to the ground, before crushing her windpipe like a twig.

The abrupt severing of Mai's connection with her xeno felt like a sledgehammer to her head. Her body went numb; and she could no longer keep her grip on her pistol or Ocypete. Her legs gave out underneath her. For several agonizing moment, she thought she was going to die.

After several more moments, her vision cleared but a cold chill settled in her bones. She shook her head furiously in an attempt to rid herself of the icy feeling. She tried to sit up, but her awkward limbs betrayed her. The two betaforms hovered above her, studying her like a specimen.

275 knelt down and cradled her face with his hands. She tried to pull back, but he just tightened his grip.

"You're strong, Kujaku Mai, but I'm stronger. KaibaCorp has use for subjects like you. You command three individual xenos, but they move as one unit. We can learn a lot from you."

She didn't recall giving her name. She looked up to talk back—to tell him what a despicable human being he was. Her breath hitched as she was caught in the red of his eyes. They were nothing like Yuugi's. They were deep and mesmerizing, but ultimately empty.

"Tell me where Mutou Yuugi is."

The deep baritone of his words echoed through her body. She relaxed into his touch despite the mix of horror and disgust she felt. It didn't feel like her own body anymore; she was a marionette hanging limply on its strings.

"Tell me," he insisted.

Her lips fell open, but she refused to let the words trapped in her throat escape. She could not tell them where Jounouchi went. She could not betray him or Amelda. Valon may never forgive her.

"Amelda," 268 said with a smirk.

Did the devil have amber eyes like that?

"Sleep."

Her eyelids drooped, heavy as lead. She struggled to stay awake, screaming inside her head where neither Jounouchi nor Valon would hear her.

"Call headquarters and tell them to pick her up. We need to find this Amelda person before they get any further."

Those were the last words she would hear for a long time.

-x-x-x-

Amelda was a muscular man with short maroon-colored hair that owned a garage half a mile away from Mai's bar. His sleeveless shirt was covered in dirt and motor oil. When they first came in, he also tried to attack Yuugi with a tire iron after mistaking him for his doppleganger. The garage was messy— there were auto parts everywhere and a line of well-maintained motorcycles stood against one wall. Yuugi admired the bikes, but he peeked over to where Amelda, Jounouchi, and Honda were conversing quietly in a circle.

Amelda's little brother, Miruko, was watching not-so-furtively from behind the glass window that separated the main work area from the administrative office. As soon as Amelda realized who they were, he had ordered his brother leave the room.

Yuugi gently caressed the handlebar of a particularly impressive red bike. Glancing over his shoulder again, he watched as Amelda crossed his arms over his chest while Jounouchi waved his hands emphatically. Ryou and his grandfather had slipped away to talk in private. Amane was patrolling the perimeters, hoping to prevent them from getting caught off guard again.

After a while, Jounouchi reluctantly handed over his duffel bag to secure an exit from the city in a truck delivering parts to Tokyo. There was only enough space for three of them though.

"Yuugi-kun and Sugoroku-kun should go together on the truck," Ryou said firmly.

"Someone else should go with them. They'll need the extra protection," Honda's quiet words had echoed through the garage.

In the end, Ryou went with them to catch the truck across town. The others would have to find their way out of the city to the rendezvous point in Tokyo. When they separated, Yuugi's hands shook when Jounouchi grasped them in a firm handshake. He worried for Anzu, who wasn't fitted with a holo-emitter like the rest of them. She told him not to be concerned, but how could he not when she was just as much a fugitive as the rest of them?

The three of them were huddled between boxes in trailer. Their only source of light was a halogen flashlight, casting bouncing shadows as the contents of the trailer shuddered with each pothole. Ryou was sleeping, propped against a box and white hair drapped across his face.

They had been on the road for about an hour now, and they were going to reach the edge of Tokyo before dusk. Rebecca must have made her arrangements in record time, because there was going to be a small boat waiting for him and his grandfather in an isolated part of Tokyo Bay at 2 AM.

"What are they going to do if we're gone?" he whispered to his grandfather.

Ryou let out a quiet moan and stirred briefly in his sleep.

"They'll go underground for a while, wait for the storm to pass. Then they'll come back and keep fighting." Sugoroku readjusted the thin blanket that slipped from Ryou's shoulders.

"I should stay too." Even Yuugi was shocked by his own declaration.

"No, you can't stay here," his grandfather had never sounded so stern before. "Kaiba Noah will stop at nothing to get you back. You are my grandson, and I can't let you fall into his hands."

"But why does he need me?"

Sugoroku looked away, signaling the end of the conversation. Yuugi knew he was considered useful in the eyes of the Kaiba Corporation, but he was just one of thousands of IDS the company had at its disposal. Ryou had been like him until two years ago.

A burst of static from the radio transmitter resting next to the flashlight caused Ryou to stir. The white-haired man rubbed the sleep from his eyes before reaching for the handheld.

"We're going to stop. They've set up extra checkpoints along the way," the driver reported.

"Understood, we'll turn off the radio for now." Ryou switched the knob into the off position.

The three of them sat in absolute silence as the brakes squealed and the trailer slowed to a halt. Yuugi shrunk further back against the wall. The wall of boxes built as a seven feet tall fort around them would protect them from any initial sight. He could only hope that the guards wouldn't choose to do a more in-depth search. The next few minutes crawled by at an agonizing pace. When he strained his hearing, he could make out the sound of other vehicles rushing by them.

He couldn't get rid of the weird feeling clogging his throat.

Another set of voices seemed to come from trailer doors, followed by the sound of the undone hitch.

"Turn off the light," Ryou hissed.

The trailer plunged into darkness for only a few seconds, because light flooded the space after the doors fell open.

"As you can see, I'm transporting merchandise." It was the driver.

A set of heavy footsteps climbed into the trailer. The floor almost seemed to shake with every step.

"Hey, watch the stuff. I gotta pay for anything you break."

Yuugi was too afraid to even breathe. Besides him, Ryou and his grandfather were equally tense.

"Are you done yet? I have a schedule—"

"God, you just won't shut up!" A new voice, one that sounded suspiciously a lot like Ryou, snapped.

"Come out, Mutou Yuugi. We know you're here," a second unfamiliar called out.

Yuugi's heart froze. He didn't know exactly how he knew—maybe it was the voice—but he knew it was his doppleganger. He was torn between his desire to disappear and to see his lookalike face-to-face. Ryou reached across the space between them and took Yuugi's hand, squeezing gently.

Nothing happened for several long moments, and Yuugi almost believed they were going to get away. But then an entire wall of boxes shifted to the side, sending their contents spilling to the floor.

In the shadows cast by the setting sun, Yuugi stared up at his doppleganger. The shade obscured the upper half of his face, but the likeness was unmistakable. He recognized the shape of his own unruly hair and the same curve of his chin that he saw in a mirror each morning. The large buckle on the thick leather collar his doppleganger wore around his neck bounced a ray of sunlight into Yuugi's eyes, blinding him momentarily. He blinked and the betaform was at eye-level with him. That was when he started to pick out the subtle differences; like the red of his twin's eyes and the muscular build of his shoulders.

"You will come with us, Mutou Yuugi." 275 beckoned with one hand.

Was his voice really that deep and rich?

"Get away from him." A loud click resonated through the air as Ryou removed the safety on his gun.

"Oi, original mix, you put that down or I slice this guy where he stands." 268 moved into view with the driver in his stranglehold. A sliver of blood dripped down the neck from the blade pressed against the driver's jugular.

"Please, Bakura," the driver pleaded.

Ryou dropped his arm and placed the weapon down, glaring at his own doppleganger.

"You will come with us if you don't want him to get hurt," reiterated 275.

The three of them exchanged hesitant glances with one another. They knew they were trapped, and that they weren't going to be able to fight their way out without getting their driver killed. The driver whimpered, and Yuugi realized he couldn't bare the thought of anyone else getting hurt on his behalf.

Yuugi stood and took three steps toward 275, "I'll come with you, please just let the others go."

"Yuugi-kun! No!"

"Sorry, kiddo, no deal," 268 eased the knife away from the driver's neck. "We need all of you, but we may let this one go."

"Up," commanded 275.

When the three of them climbed out of the back of the truck, a semi-circle of guards armed with rifles awaited them outside. The driver was handed off to another guard and taken out of their sight. Yuugi was just glad not to immediately hear gunshots signifying an execution. The other guards started to move— to tighten the circle around them.

"Get back, we'll handle them," 275 barked.

"We'll take them into the guard house for some questioning, first. Call headquarters and tell them to send the copter for extraction." 268 was already pushing Yuugi past the guards and toward the small building by the side of the road as he spoke.

Inside the building, Yuugi and the others were forced down into three chairs. 275 then bound each of their hands in front of them with zip ties. Yuugi tested the bonds; the plastic was tight around his wrist and chaffed with each twist. It was uncomfortable, but it was still far from the most effective means of holding them. That was when he noticed 275 unroll a sleeve of capped syringes. Yuugi strained harder against his restraints.

268 stopped his partner before he could prepare the first syringe. "I want to talk to them. You should learn to ask more questions."

"This is standard operating procedure. They should be sedated," 275 protested.

"Yeah, but what are they going to do with a battalion of armed guards waiting outside?"

275 stared at the other man for several long moments before turning away and packing away the needles. 268 just smiled smugly and pulled up the last chair facing the rest of them. He swung his long legs over the seat and casually leaned forward against the chair's back.

"Don't, you'd never make it to the treeline in time," announced 275.

Yuugi furrowed his brow in confusion.

Ryou and his lookalike stared at each other with almost identical expressions of curiosity. Some small and subtle difference became apparent after long moments of study. But to the casual observer, they might as well be identical twins.

"You wouldn't shoot us, KaibaCorp wants us alive." Ryou didn't sound too sure though.

"But a bullet through each kneecap will still hurt like hell," 268 piqued with some uncomfortable amount of glee.

"You don't have to do this," Ryou said quietly, but he sounded calmer than before. "You can let us go, you can come with us. We can't be all that different considering—"

"Considering our genetic likeness?" 268 finished with a quirk of his head and an unnerving smile.

275 made a small noise of disgust in the background.

"It's not that easy, progenitor. You see this?" 268 pointed to the wide leather collar wrapped around his neck. "The moment we go AWOL or step out of line, they will kill us with this. We can't help you."

"Bakura-kun, what's going on?" Yuugi couldn't keep quiet any longer. He was still in disbelief over how much his doppleganger looked like him.

275's unwavering gaze made Yuugi feel uneasy, like he was a lab rat running through a maze.

Bakura never took his eyes off 268. "Yuugi-kun, you must know that KaibaCorp had been experimenting with xenos since day one. That's why they need IDS like us. But their end goal is to create super soldiers, cloned ones with xenomorphical affinity that can be mass produced."

"They're cloning us?" Panic settled and made it hard to believe.

"Well ideally, they want an optimized template to work with. We're...more like prototypes."

Yuugi stared at 268 in disbelief. The clone's blasé attitude toward his origins was unexpected. He looked to his clone and asked, "Did you always know?"

"All betaforms are brought into this world with this knowledge," replied 275.

"What are your names, sons?" Sugoroku asked suddenly.

Yuugi's twin almost looked as if the question caught him off guard. "My designation is Betaform 275, he is 268."

Yuugi's heart broke. If anything, it looked like they had never thought about the individual significance of their names. He knew he should be suspicious of them, because they were trying to take him back to KaibaCorp. What did KaibaCorp do to these clones? Did they also live in padded rooms with no windows and never knowing the world beyond? Without Yuugi, this person wouldn't have been forced into service of KaibaCorp. No matter how irrational, he felt just as culpable as them.

"You pity us," 268 said suddenly, breaking off Yuugi's train of thought. "Why?"

In actuality, what Yuugi felt was more guilt than pity.

"Is there a difference?" 275 asked with a cock of his head, the only openly curious gesture he had displayed thus far.

Yuugi wet his dry lips. "I don't understand."

"What is the difference between guilt and pity?" 275 stressed emphasis on each word like he was speaking to a two-year old.

"Wait, how did you know what I was thinking?"

The two clones exchanged long meaningful glances. Ryou leaned forward in his seat; the bright glint in his eyes and his body's posture screamed excitement.

"You can read minds!" Ryou exclaimed.

Yuugi didn't understand how this could be considered a favorable development. If anything, it was going to make it harder to escape.

"You won't escape," 275 turned his gaze back on Yuugi.

Case in point.

Ryou would not be dissuaded though. "Then you must know: what KaibaCorp wants you for, what they really think about you? You can't possibly be satisfied with just that—"

275 crossed the room in three long steps and shoved Ryou back, knocking Ryou and his chair to the floor. "You think you can convince us to defect. Your first mistake was thinking we would care about your righteous struggle."

Seeing such a cold expression on a face almost identical to his own chilled Yuugi to his core. He refused to believe that he could be so uncaring. And he refused to believe that anyone cloned from himself was capable of such callousness.

His clone spun around, pinning Yuugi with the same blood red glare. "That's where you're wrong."

Twenty-four hours ago, Yuugi would have ducked his head. He would have been unable to meet the challenging gaze. But that was yesterday, and today... He wasn't going to quietly give away his new-found freedom.

Outside, a loud roar announced the arrival of the helicopter.


	6. Identity

Rebecca was woken up by a series of high-pitched beeps. She must have fallen asleep in front of her computer. She shoved her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and poked herself hard between the eyes. After her eyes finally stopped watering, she searched for the source of the alarm across five different desktop monitors.

She just couldn't catch a break today.

Not soon after returning to her apartment and after dropping Amane and Honda off, she was alerted to the perimeter breach at the group's main safehouse at Domino Pier. She managed to catch the last moments before the security feed was cut to see the KaibaCorp security forces. The rest of the afternoon was lost in a flurry of moving their databases several times, erasing the subsequent packet trail across twenty different servers in four continents, and cooking up a new host of proxy protocols.

By the time she was confident that Kaiba Corp wouldn't be able to get anything useful out of the safehouse computers, or worse, trace back to her, it was almost 4:30 in the afternoon.

It was now 5:30 PM.

Rebecca finally located the source. Her search program had flagged a detainment order just submitted to KC's security firm. She didn't have to scroll down far before finding the trigger for the alert.

"Shit!" she exclaimed.

She pulled up two new windows. In one, she fired off a coded warning to their current imageboard home. But there was no telling if any of the others would get the warning in time. In the other window, she piggybacked onto an American telecom satellite to see if she could locate them via the chip Kaiba implanted in each of the holo-emitters. Each second it took for the satellite to triangulate their locations was an agonising eternity of waiting.

Her heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. She was too late. Ryou, Yuugi, and Sugoroku had already been detained at the checkpoint designated in the order form. The others were about 30 miles behind them.

Her computers screeched again—they had flagged yet another order.

KaibaCorp was sending a helicopter to pick them up for transfer to an unknown and secure facility. They were going to be nearly impossible to find if they were shuffled back into the company's detainment system.

Rebecca unlocked and yanked out the second drawer in her desk. There were three equally sized compartments inside. One contained a pile of cellphones, all different models and from different manufacturers—these were her burner phones. The other two housed stacks of pre-paid calling cards and SIM cards respectively.

She wrestled momentarily with inserting a new SIM card into the first phone she grabbed, a purple Nokia. Before calling, she sent a string of pre-determined numbers via text.

After five rings, someone picked up on the other line, "What are you doing, Big Bang?"

It was Jounouchi.

"Ryou, Yuugi, and Sugoroku have been captured. You need to get the next checkpoint ASAP!"

-x-x-x-

All betaforms were born with the knowledge that they weren't really human. It was one of the few things KaibaCorp had managed to get to stick in their brief flirtation with genetic memory. Extrapolating from the fact that they weren't born from any womb or even aged naturally (at least not at first), it was easy for most to infer their actual origins. They were genetically engineered, mixed in a test tube, and raised by scientists. 275 didn't know what happened to the betaforms that couldn't handle the reality of their existence, but he had some pretty good ideas.

Rationally, he knew the possibility from the first moment Noah showed him Mutou Yuugi's photo. But it hadn't clicked until he saw his donor for the first time—that he may have blood relatives in this world. Mutou Yuugi also had a father, a mother, a grandfather, and maybe even aunts, uncles, and cousins. If 275 was cloned from Yuugi, what did that make his relationship with his sire? Was Yuugi his brother? Or even his father?

But that road only led to more questions. Yuugi and he had the same phenotype, but all similarities could end there. His ability to read and compel minds was imparted to him by the scientists; he did not inherit them from Yuugi. Other tweaks may have altered his genetic profile further until those similarities were nothing more than mere flukes.

268 and he loaded their prisoners onto the helicopter with the large "KC" logo painted on the side. If 268 refused to sedate them, 275 was going to keep his gun trained on them the entire ride. Within the last twenty minutes, each of the three prisoners had mentally considered and discarded a total of thirty-two ways to escape. 275 knew they weren't going to stop trying.

275 could barely hear his partner's conversation with headquarters over the sound of the rotors. The secure containment unit was about ten minutes away by air. Once Mutou Yuugi was captured, 275 would also have to return to his cell.

He reached up and caressed the collar around his neck. Only he wasn't sure he was ready.

When he first looked into his sire's eyes, reality itself expanded. His senses sharpened with the realization that there was so much he didn't understand.

Especially about himself.

-x-x-x-

The entire vehicle shook suddenly as the nose dipped. Without seatbelts, Yuugi spent entire seconds suspended before gravity righted itself. The sound of crunching metal was followed by another quake. Hovering in the helicopter's path was a large avian xeno. Amane and Jounouchi waved frantically from its back. Ryou leapt across the aisle, trying to wrestle the gun out of 275's grip. The handgun discharged shot upward into the ceiling as they struggled. Ryou slammed 275's hand against the wall until the betaform dropped his firearm.

A series of taps drew Yuugi's attention to the door on his left. A lizard-like xeno holding a tomahawk was somehow latched onto the outside of the copter. As Yuugi wrenched open the door, Ryou slugged 275 across the face. The betaform slumped back, momentarily dazed. The lizard xeno slid into the cabin and pinned 275 against his seat. The wind whipped wildly through Yuugi's hair and into his face, making it difficult to breathe.

"Go!" Ryou shouted over the fury of the wind and the chaos inside.

Yuugi took his grandfather's hands and they jumped. The broad back of his Winged Guardian served a bumpy landing. Yuugi was just glad their feet weren't also bound as he struggled to grip the dragon's ridged back. Amane and Jounouchi pulled up besides them. The blond man whooped loudly in triumph. When he looked back, Ryou was saddled on the same skeletal dragon from their first meeting. When it pulled away from the helicopter, the force of its beating wings sent the vehicle spiralling through the air.

"How did you find us?" Yuugi screamed.

"Rebecca!"

"Let's go before they get their bearings!"

When Yuugi looked back, a plume of black smoke rose from the helicopter's slowing rotor. The nose dipped as it began a sharp but manageable descent. He hoped that no one was seriously hurt, but he wasn't going to stay behind and find out either. If he squinted, Yuugi could make out the form of 275 standing, braced against the open cabin door. They veered toward the east, away from the setting sun. They would need to close the distance between them and Tokyo as much as possible by flight.

A low rumble filled the air as a group of dark storm clouds suddenly rolled into their flight path. His Winged Guardian struggled to stay airborne as the wind speed picked up, pushing them back. The ionic discharge racing across his skin warned of an impending storm. He pivoted to his right, wanting to ask Ryou if they should go around the storm somehow. Then out of the dark clouds above, another dragon just like Ryou's descended like a bomb and sent Ryou's xeno barreling through the air to avoid the dive. Amane and Jounouchi flanked the new arrival and rammed it. As the identical dragon reeled back, 268 flipped them off—his long hair flying in the wind like a banner of white. Yuugi steered his Winged Guardian to cut off 268's retreat path. They would need to take the betaform down quickly, otherwise it would just afford 275 a chance to catch up. Amane's xeno doubled back for a second attack, but it only managed to barely dodge the bolt of lightning raining down. The deafening thunderclap rattled Yuugi's entire body, and a second bolt struck just several feet away.

"Yuugi, watch out!" Sugoroku shouted from behind.

A red serpentine tail—another xeno already?—suddenly clipped the side of the Winged Guardian's head when it tried to wheel out of the way. Yuugi scrambled for better purchase, but his bound hands slipped. He twisted in mid-air and saw that his grandfather was still barely hanging onto the dragon's back. It almost felt like he was floating, but gravity quickly reasserted its claim. He fell with his heart pounding in his ears. Above him, long red coils of reptilian flesh tried to catch and wrap around Winged Guardian and Amane's xeno.

"Yuugi-kun! I've got you!"

Below him, Ryou waited with arms extended out and wrists still bound together. Yuugi's heart fluttered, and it was difficult to know if the free fall was the only reason why.

"Bakura-kun!"

Yuugi fully expected the weight of his falling body to knock them both off Ryou's xeno. To Yuugi's surprise, he landed firmly in Ryou's arm and couldn't help blushing when the other man curled his arms around Yuugi's waist to get a better grip. He craned his neck to get a better view of the fight above. The Winged Guardian and Amane's xeno were breaking away from the new xeno that was still obscured from sight by the dark clouds and 268's xeno.

"Yuugi, are you okay?" asked Sugoroku.

He nodded.

"We should land and make a break for the trees. It'll be harder for them to track us that way!" Ryou never took his eyes off the enemy creatures regrouping above them.

Jounouchi surveyed the landscape below. "There's a field up ahead!"

They raced toward the ground as the sky continued to rumble overhead. "Duck!" was the only warning they received from Jounouchi as a ball of lightning sailed past them. They swerved to avoid the smoking crater now in their path. Their xenos skidded to ungraceful and bumpy landings, turning up even more land in their wake. Ryou was still carrying Yuugi when they hastily dismounted. Jounouchi and Amane each produced a knife to cut the ties around their wrists.

A sudden gale knocked Ryou over from behind. Yuugi hit the ground hard and continued to roll down a grassy slope. Another bolt of lightning struck near his feet where he stopped at the bottom of the slope. Yuugi's bones ached and his ears rang. He crawled over to where Ryou was still lying face down and groaning in pain.

"Bakura-kun, are you okay?"

Ryou raised his head slowly, revealing a new bruise on his left cheek and spots of blood from his nose. His eyes were unfocused as he spoke, "What's going on?"

Jounouchi rushed in, grabbed Yuugi and threw him over his shoulders. He protested, but the blond man just ignored him and started running. Sugoroku panted as he tried to keep up. Amane swung one of Ryou's arms around her shoulder before hauling her brother to his feet. Over Jounouchi's shoulder, Yuugi watched as 268's xeno closed in from behind. He still couldn't make out the full shape or size of the enormous xeno, but it was casting impossibly long shadows across the field.

Jounouchi slowed to a halt, before gently depositing Yuugi back on the ground. Yuugi pivoted, but he already had a good idea of why they'd stopped.

275 stood firmly in their path. He wielded no other weapon; for the only one he would need already hung above them. "I told you, you won't be able to escape us." The large bruise that Ryou previously left on his cheek turned purple, before quickly fading to a faint yellow blemish.

"Okay, that's just freaky." Jounouchi shook his head in disbelief.

"Great, you have accelerated healing too!" 268 complained from behind. "Fucking show-off."

Amane reached for her holstered weapon. "It's still five against two."

275 unfolded his arms and pointed a solitary finger skyward. "You'll need more than just five people to take on Osiris."

The storm clouds part as if by 275's command. And Yuugi's jaw falls as he gaped at the revealed xeno hovering over them. The red dragon above unleashed an earth-shattering roar, ripping leaves from branches. To maintain his balance, Yuugi dug his feet into the dirt. He helped brace his grandfather against the buffeting wind when the older man stumbled back. Their group's xenos, which had been circling the skies, answered with their own war cries and began attacking Osiris again. He winced as a swat of Osiris' tail sent Ryou's dragon crashing into the ground. Ryou let loose a loud groan of pain and would have fallen to his knees if not for Amane's support.

As if enraged for her brother's sake, Amane's xeno wheeled around and dove at Osiris' face. Flapping its wings frantically to stay afloat, the bird tried to dig its talons and beak into the dragon's eyes. Winged Guardian weaved through the air, launching several fireballs down the length of Osiris' back. Osiris reeled back, shaking its head back and forth to throw off the other xenos. Yuugi and Amane's xenos both had the advantage of being smaller and more manuverable, but there was only so much they could do when Osiris seemed to fill the entire sky.

Osiris' jaws fell open—tendrils of bright yellow energy gathering between rows of razor-sharp teeth. Both of their remaining xenos tried to dodge the balls of lightning, but a blast singed the left wing of Amane's xeno. As the bird plummeted from the sky, it gave a wounded cry before being dismissed in a shower of colors. Amane's knees buckled, sending her and Ryou tumbling to the ground. With only one opponent left, Osiris turned its full attention to Yuugi's Winged Guardian.

Having just watched two of its comrades fall, the smaller dragon was getting sloppy and scared. It no longer wanted to listen to any of Yuugi's instructions. Throwing caution to the wind, it turned tail and flew in a desperate attempt to escape. Osiris slithered through the sky, catching the fleeing xeno in the coil of its long serpentine body. Yuugi's own ribs felt the echo of the pain as Osiris squeezed. His vision swam momentarily, before clearing to see the blackness between Osiris' fangs closing in.

Winged Guardian was going to get killed at this rate.

"No, stop it!" Yuugi shouted, straining his body up in some vain hope to help his xeno. His head filled with the terror flooding through the link.

Osiris suddenly froze in mid-air—its gaping maw suspending over the trapped xeno.

275 called out, "Osiris, why did you stop?"

Osiris was visibly agitated, caught between some rock and indecision. Its tail thrashed uneasily, but made no other move to attack Winged Guardian.

As the terror from his xeno abated, Yuugi felt another presence bloom in the back of his mind. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, but it was still recognizable as affinity. The new link weighed heavily, threatening to push every other thought out of his head. He locked eyes with Osiris and really saw the xeno for the first time—a brilliant form dancing in a storm of color.  
He wanted to touch it.

Osiris unfurled itself from around Winged Guardian and swam toward Yuugi's outstretched hand.

"Osiris! Only I command your loyalty." 275's voice shattered the peace that settled over the field.

Yuugi blinked, and the vision and the link evaporated. Winged Guardian took flight again, projecting echoes of betrayal and wounded pride as it fled. He turned his head, for his clone had moved to his side. 275's chest heaved with each breath, and his hands were clenched in white-knuckled fists at his side. Yuugi recognized the shock that colored his clone's face—the first real emotion to visibly register.

"It's impossible," 275 hissed.


	7. Role Confusion

Despite his training, 275's emotions had gotten the best of him. He may have been cloned from Mutou Yuugi's DNA template, but he was so much more.

He was supposed to be so much more than human.

They couldn't possibly be that similar—that Osiris would seek a bond with Yuugi too.

He reached out to grab Yuugi's arm. Whether it was to capture him or to keep him for some other reason, he was no longer sure of himself. That fact—the indecision—angered him above all.

But in that instance before his fingers closed around his sire's wrist, all chaos broke loose. A tremor shook the earth and knocked 275 completely off his feet. Jounouchi swooped in and pulled Yuugi back, putting distance between them again.

"Jounouchi-kun, Bakura-kun, take care of my grandson!" Sugoroku exclaimed.

A new xeno the size of a small mountain grappled Osiris down with its shackled arms. The dragon blasted lightning into the new arrival's face and slithered out of its grasp. Its face was blackened by the attack, but it wasn't deterred. The broken chains around its limbs clanged as it reached in an attempt to grab Osiris again.

"Jii-chan!" Yuugi's shout drew 275's attention to the old man, who was hunched over and sweating profusely.

"Go, Yuugi!" Sugoroku waved his hands tiredly.

Jounouchi grabbed the shorter man, kicking and struggling all the way into the woods. Ryou and Amane followed after one last look at Sugoroku. 268 sent his xeno to give chase, as the two betaforms regrouped to pick up the mental trace of their bounties.

"Exodia, don't let them follow."

A fist plunged into the ground in front of 275. Exodia dragged its fingers through the dirt, drawing a wide trench between the betaforms and the forest and preventing any further pursuit. 275 craned his neck to look into Exodia's monstrous face.

With the other hand, Exodia plucked 268's xeno from the air. The zombie dragon was completely obscured in the palm of its hand. Osiris rammed its head against Exodia, trying to get it to release its partner. Instead, Exodia swatted the other dragon away with a lazy wave. 268 swayed as Exodia tightened his grip around his xeno, sweat poured down his clenched jaws. Sugoroku was under equally visible strain, so 275 made the decision to go to his partner instead.

He wasn't sure what prompted him to help again and again. 275 reached out and steadied the other betaform on his feet. "Just let it go. You're trying to do too many things at once."

268 shook his head rigorously. "I can do this."

275 itched to smack his partner over the head. Instead, he focused on his sire's grandfather. "Let his go, you don't really want to hurt it. I can read your mind."

"Then you'll know that I won't let you hurt Yuugi either."

The deep purple of Sugoroku's gaze was the same as Yuugi's, stabbing straight through 275's soul (did he have one?) like a dagger. For a moment, he was forced to wonder if his extrasensory perception was entirely the product of genetic engineering.

Exodia's strangled cry drew his attention back to the fight hanging over them. Dark colored rashes spread down the length of its arm. The fingers remained rigid, still set in a tight grip despite Dragon Zombie's escape. Osiris' lightning cut through the necrotic flesh of Exodia's upper arm. Upon hitting the ground, the amputated limb dissipated in a cloud of sand. 275 coughed. His hands blindly sought out the other betaform.

When the dust finally cleared, 275 watched as a new limb sprouted to replace the one Exodia lost. Sugoroku was hunched over from exertion, sweat soaking through the collar of his shirt.

268 pointed up at Sugoroku's xeno. "Did it just..."

He nodded. This was an opportunity they couldn't pass up. The scientists at Kaiba Corp and Noah were going to be more eager to get their hands on Exodia than they are to get Mutou Yuugi back. Never before had they run across a xenomorph with regenerative abilities of such magnitude.

That was also what Sugoroku was counting on.

Dragon Zombie and Osiris weaved back and forth, evading each of Exodia's attempts to grab them. Again and again, Dragon Zombie rotted one of Exodia's limb while Osiris then lopped it off. But the regrowth took longer and longer each time—until the fifth time, Exodia could no longer work fast enough to regenerate one arm before its other arm was also taken off.

275 and 268 surrounded Sugoroku, who was now kowtowing on the ground and focused solely on his link with his xeno. 275 suspected that the feeling gnawing at the back of his skull was guilt. His partner knelt down and uncapped a syringe, then plunged the needle into the old man's neck. Sugoroku's tense body relaxed and flopped into 275's waiting arms. But as soon as they touched, the floodgates of 275's minds swung open to the deluge of Sugoroku's thoughts and feelings. 275 couldn't block them out—his head filled to the brim with the man's love for his grandson, determination, forgiveness...

Over the rush of emotions, he heard himself say, "You should dismiss it while you're still conscious."

Dismissing xenos always took a bit more effort than the initial summon, especially when they didn't want to leave. After Exodia went, both Osiris and Dragon Zombie were more willing to go themselves. Soon the only evidence they were ever there to begin with was the mounds of sand and the scorch marks burned into the surrounding flora. And as the sedative took effect, Sugoroku's thoughts grew muted and eventually withdrew its intrusion into 275's mind. The absence felt impossibly empty.

Only moments after the xenos' exit, a fleet of helicopters sent by KaibaCorp landed in the meadow. Security officers quickly dismounted as soon as the helicopters set down. They quickly surrounded the betaforms and leveled their rifles at the barely conscious man in 275's arms.

268 rolled his eyes at the display. "He's sedated, is there a medical team?"

Two EMS workers rushed past the guards. They extracted Sugoroku from his grasp before laying the elderly man down on the stretcher. The rise and fall of Sugoroku's chest seemed labored, causing 275 to worry about the old man's condition.

As the workers checked his vitals, 275 leaned in and whispered into Sugoroku's ear. "Why don't you hate me?"

Sugoroku looked up at him with glassy eyes and his parched lips mouthed the words inaudibly, "You're my grandson, silly boy."

275's arms fell limply to his side after he straightened up. Though Sugoroku never said the words out loud, 275 could still hear the sound of them echoing in his ears. The old man must be delirious from all the sedative; he must have mistaken 275 for Yuugi. Or maybe he himself was hallucinating.

When he raised his head to meet his partner's gaze, he could see that 268 had heard the same peculiar thought too.

-x-x-x-

Anzu caught Ryou in a tight hug as soon as they entered the room. Honda and Jounouchi bumped shoulders, a gesture that Yuugi recognized as reassuring each other. Unable to watch them anymore, Yuugi turned his back and retreated to the next room. It was even messier than the previous one, which Anzu and Honda must have cleared out. He righted a fallen chair that had one wobbly leg and sat down on it. The conversation from the next room continued to flow into his current location. Yuugi buried his face between his legs to block out the sound.

He had lost his Jii-chan again so soon after getting him back.

And his doppleganger—well, his clone... He wasn't entirely sure what to make of that development either. But Yuugi was feeling trapped in a way he had never known before, not even while mostly living in a small cell for the last seven years. There wasn't hope then, and the feeling was now terrifying.

"Yuugi-kun?"

He didn't raise his head to look at Ryou, now hovering in the doorway. "I want to be alone."

But Ryou didn't leave, instead he came closer. "I'm sorry about what happened to Sugoroku-san. None of us had any idea the clones were so strong. KaibaCorp is so much further along in their cloning technology than we suspected—for them to have even made viable ones is mindboggling."

"I don't care about the details. I just want to get Jii-chan back," Yuugi straightened up. "You got me out. You can get Jii-chan too, right?"

"Yuugi-kun, we found you by sheer coincidence. We were at that lab to steal their research. It could be months before we narrow down where they may be keeping Sugoroku-san. I have to get you out of the country while it's still possible. Tonight may be your last chance." Ryou reached for Yuugi's shoulder.

He caught the hand reaching toward him. "I'm not leaving Jii-chan behind."

"Yuugi-kun, please—"

Yuugi's fingers tightened around Ryou's wrist, its bone digging into Yuugi's palm. He expected Ryou to wince or even complain, but the white-haired man just stood there and took the abuse silently. Yuugi dropped the hand like a hot rock, sickened by what he had done on purpose. Even in the dim light, he could see the red finger-shaped bruises he left behind.

He directed his gaze to the dust-covered floor again. "I wasn't strong enough, Bakura-kun."

"None of us were."

"How similar are we?"

"What?"

Yuugi struggled with the word "clone." He didn't like the term; it was dehumanizing like how IDS were held in contempt. "Our twins," he said finally.

"Does it matter?"

"Osiris reached out to me, I think it mistook me for him. And yours shared the same affinity as you." Yuugi closed his eyes as he remembered the hum of power flowing through his body. He had never known a presence like Osiris' before—one so overwhelming that Yuugi feared being consumed completely by it. How did his twin manage to keep his will independent of the dragon's wishes?

Did he fear the possibility of the depths he himself may be capable of—what he saw reflected in 275?

"I guess that comes down to how much you think we as a person, our personalities, is determined by our genes."

Yuugi's resolve steeled. He couldn't be weak, not when his grandfather needed him the most. His twin was so frighteningly strong—and he hoped he could find some part of that strange strength within himself.

"I want to join you, Bakura-kun. I want to fight by your side."

-x-x-x-

Untested betaforms, thought physically mature, shared a lot in common with young children. For them, a mission on the outside was the ultimate trial by fire; 268 had seen more than a few crash and burn on their first outings. The outside world was much more complex, unlike the rigid and controlled environment they were trained in. The scientists and the instructors did everything in their power to dehumanize betaforms—to build a wall between the clones and the humans they were usually sent out to hunt. But in 268's opinion, that was the ultimate flaw in their programming.

Without working knowledge of human norms or mores, they couldn't adapt effectively to life outside. And unable to cope with the world outside the laboratory, most betas derailed from their missions within a day.

268 sometimes wondered what it was exactly that threw his fellow betaforms so off. Was the allure of freedom too strong to resist, that even death would be better than being put back in their boxes afterwards? Or did every moment of their existence mock them when they tried to blend in with the humans they were built to imitate? He understood all of that; he felt all those same things. But he never let those temptations or doubts overcome him.

Like most things he did, 268 was the exception rather than the rule. In his three years of active duty, he'd repeatedly witnessed the painful end of betaforms that did succumb to weakness. After observing his new partner for those first ten hours or so, he was sure 275 would be like him. 268 originally questioned the wisdom of sending the clone after its source, but his partner worked efficiently and without question. For a while, 268 started to believe that maybe the programming actually worked.

But when his eyes met Bakura Ryou's, he knew there was no way 275 could fully distance himself from Mutou Yuugi. Not when he himself was shaken to the core.

-x-x-x-

Clones were functionally identical twins to their genetic sources. It was the ultimate question of nature versus nurture. 275 contemplated this question over Sugoroku's hospital bed. His only response came from the machine monitoring the patient's heartbeat.

The man who could be his grandfather had an adverse reaction to the sedative administered and was rushed to a nearby hospital in Tokyo. He was stable now, but his condition had to be monitored some more before he could be moved to a more secure KaibaCorp facility. 275 replaced the medical chart back at the foot of the hospital bed—none of the words and charts had sunk in.

He reached out with his mind slowly, afraid he would get caught up in Sugoroku's mind like before. There were no conscious thoughts, so he had to dig a little deeper. Sugoroku was dreaming, but it was difficult to make out the exact imagery. 275 was able to make out just one thought: Yuugi.

In that moment, he made up his mind. This was a sort of resolve he had never known before. For someone taking the reins of his own life for the first time ever, it was frightening.

His partner was already out and about in Tokyo, working furiously to track their prey. But 275 already knew where Mutou Yuugi and friends were headed. He had managed to pick up which district the fugitives were headed for despite Exodia securing their escape route. 275 was initially confused by his lack of disclosure about that important little detail, but he knew why now.

275 found Yuugi and the others on a street full of abandoned shops on the edge of the Edogawa ward. Because of the Shinjuku Massacre that took place right in the heart of the city, a new city border was established along the Ara river years ago—effectively displacing Adachi-ku, Katsushika-ku, and Edogawa-ku from its jurisdiction. Abandoned by city government, these outer zones quickly became a haven for organized crimes, resistance groups, and other malcontents of Japan's current situation. Many other wards on Tokyo's periphery, like Nerima-ku, experienced a similar decay as the city's "desirable" population crowded in toward the bay or relocated to Domino City instead.

A chalk drawing of cupped hands was etched onto the wood boarding up the front of the store— just like the information he had gleaned from Ryou before the group escaped. He pressed his ears against the wood, straining to hear any sound inside. He could sense the presence of human minds within the building, but they were too far out of range to read.

275 needed to get Yuugi the information as soon as possible. The most reliable method would be to approach them in person, but there was no way they were going to be receptive to that. Not after their last encounter. He could leave breadcrumbs on the web where they would look eventually, but what if they didn't get the information in time? Sugoroku was going to be moved before the end of the night; making him near impossible to find once he got lost in the internment system.

He ran through a mental list of his xenos, but found them all too hostile to send in his place. Never before had he found the idea of a more docile xeno useful before this moment.

The moment of frustration quickly gave way to something else, a new source of affinity. The presence was light and playful, reaching to 275 with eagerness. He embraced the new bond and the xeno's name burned in his mind.

"Kuriboh."

A brown ball of fluff materialized and leap into his arms. It nuzzled against his chest before directing its wide purple eyes—eyes that reminded 275 of Yuugi's. "Kuri~!" It trilled.

"You want to deliver this message on my behalf?" he asked.

Kuriboh cooed and bounced up and down. It extended its green paws out in askance. 275 hesitated before reaching for the envelope stored in the inner pocket of his coat. Kuriboh took the letter gently between its sharp claws, careful not to tear it.

"You will give that to Mutou Yuugi, and to no one else. He looks...like me," he spoke slowly to impress the importance on his new xeno. "Do you understand?"

Excitement bled through the link; Kuriboh was so eager to please. It bounced off in search of an opening into the building. His cellphone buzzed in his pocket. 268 was calling him. 275 took one last look at the building before retreating into a nearby alley to take the phone call.

As much as he wanted to meet his sire face-to-face again, this was not the time...

But the next time, he did. He would ask, "Why?"

-x-x-x-

They sat in a circle on the dusty floor. Anzu and Jounouchi were unpacking some equipment from the duffel bag. Amane and Honda had gone in search of food. Even though they had been gone for less than fifteen minutes, Yuugi glanced at the back door that they left through every few minutes. The constant din of radio chatter in the background allowed them to keep tabs on police movement in the area.

Yuugi sat next to Ryou as he browsed the image board for new intelligence being shared. As they slogged through the multitude of threads, Ryou pointed out the various tags and linguistic quirks used by different resistance groups; how larger messages were embedded into images themselves; and how information was sometimes hidden in plain sight as inscrutable in-jokes. Yuugi also quickly realized that weeding out the actual useful information from the boards' normal chatter was an art in itself.

"How many groups are out there?" Yuugi asked.

"There are two major organized groups in Japan, each with a network of smaller cells spread out over the country. They're the big players that are internationally funded. But even they operate on a relatively small scale of a few hundred members at any given time. The yakuza, gangs, and other independent agents operate as wild cards; they are known to help our causes for the right price and if it benefits them."

"What about us?"

"There are dozens of smaller groups like ours, some are loosely affiliated with the bigger groups and some others with gangs in the slum. We are neither, we're only committed to toppling this oppressive regime. Though we lack the support of a larger infrastructure, we're well-equipped. It allows us to react quickly and adapt more easily as the situation changes. Plus we have a reputation for being really really hard to catch." Ryou smiled warily.

Anzu and Jounouchi laughed quietly in the background, while Yuugi quietly thumbed the emitter device in his pocket.

Ryou continued, "Today's a bit of an oddity. We don't usually spend our time running from cloned soldiers sent by Kaiba Corp. We're mostly information brokers, we find and sell intelligence to the rest of the network. If someone needs to disappear for a while, we can help. We even pass messages between IDS here and their loved ones abroad, or help smuggle people out of the country if the need is great."

"And breaking into labs?"

"Make no mistake, Yuugi-kun. We consider the Kaiba Corporation our foremost enemy; it's the engine that fuels this regime. It creates and maintains the institutions that keep us down, and it backs the politicians that push its agenda into legislation. We take every chance we can to steal information from them and every chance to sabotage them."

"That's where Honda and I come in," Jounouchi flashed a sharp smile.

The group lapsed into silence once more as each person went back to their respective task. Yuugi did his best to stifle a yawn. Now that the adrenaline rush was over, he felt drowsy. Blinks soon morphed into micro-naps, and he leaned ever more and more against Ryou's shoulders. Anzu was the one who prodded him awake.

She pointed to the slouched couch in the corner of the room. "Why don't you get some rest, Yuugi-kun?"

Yuugi tried to wave her off. "No, it's okay. I'm still fine." Not a moment later, he was lifted into the air by Jounouchi.

"Don't argue, kid. You're no use to anyone, including your Gramps, if you're dead on your feet." Jounouchi deposited him gently on the broken sofa.

Yuugi thought better than to argue. He closed his eyes as someone tugged a blanket over him. Sleep took him quickly, and he dreamed. He saw his lonely other self, cast adrift in the world. When he reached out for his grandfather— to take the abandoned hand of his other— everything else crumbled between his fingers.

His eyes fell open, and he awoke to the sound of Amane and Honda returning. Ryou's older sister was laughing at something Honda said when they reappeared with several bags of groceries. Jounouchi jumped to his feet and rushed over to their pair. He and Honda wrestled for moments, shouting and cursing at each other. Packages of snacks spilled out onto the floor when the bags were dropped to the dusty floor. Yuugi sat up on the sagging couch and watched as the others rescued the food out of the two's rampaging footpath.

But over the sound of their fighting, Yuugi heard another sound: a high-pitched squeal. "Wait, did you hear that?"

Everyone quickly froze and the squeaks became evident over the silence that followed. They followed the sound to the next room, where a tuff of brown fur was wedged between two wooden boards nailed over the window. Yuugi rushed over to it; the xeno must have gotten stuck after trying to squeeze through the opening between the wood.

"Please calm down," he reached out to take its flailing limbs. It was only going to hurt itself if it kept struggling like this. As soon as he took one of its taloned paws, the xeno stilled. It looked up at him with light purple eyes and the link established between them with a loud mental click.

He looked to the others for help. "Help me pry off the boards."

It took three of them to dislodge Kuriboh. Kuriboh squealed ecstatically and barreled straight into Yuugi's chest, vigorously nuzzled against Yuugi's neck. He tried to stifle his laughter, but the feel of Kuriboh's fur against him was ticklish.

"Yuugi-kun?" Anzu asked.

"Oh, this is Kuriboh," he introduced the petite creature.

"Kuri!"

Jounouchi pointed to a white envelope in Kuriboh's other paw. "What's it holding?"

Kuriboh shoved the aforementioned envelope into Yuugi's face. Yuugi's eyes crossed as he read the name: Mutou Yuugi. After Yuugi took the letter, the small xeno waved and vanished into thin air. Its mission was complete.

He turned the envelope over several times. It was thin, so whatever was inside wasn't much. There was something about the curves of the characters in his name that put him on edge. He tore open the envelope as the rest of group looked on. There was just a single sheet of paper inside. Unfolding it revealed a map printout of the local area, and the site of a hospital was circled on the top-right portion. A simple message was scrawled next to the circle in handwriting he recognized as his own: "Mutou Sugoroku is here. The security fence will be disabled 11PM-11:15PM. Come to the third floor, west wing."

"Yuugi-kun," Ryou placed a gentle hand on Yuugi's shoulder. "Are you okay? You look pale."

His hands shook as he handed the map to Ryou. "It's from the other me."

Honda voiced his initial suspicion, "It's a trap."

"But he must know where we are to deliver that message. Why didn't he just capture us now?" Ryou waved the map emphatically.

Everyone else in the room exchanged uneasy glances.

"If the clone really wanted to help, he could have just brought Jii-san to us." Jounouchi folded his arms over his chest and moved closer to Honda. "It could be a trick."

Yuugi plucked the message from Ryou's hand. He studied the message carefully, as if any hidden meaning would soon become apparent. If this was true and sent in good faith, it could be his only chance to save his grandfather. "It's those collars. He can't help us openly."

Amane furrowed her brows in worry. "I still don't think this would be a wise move. We should move locations now if they've already found us."

"If the other me meant us harm, there would already be Kaiba Corp security officers here," Yuugi pointed out.

She bit her lower lip. "We shouldn't trust them so easily."

Ryou looked to him, waiting for him to take the lead. Yuugi's resolve hardened, but he needed everyone's support to make it happen. "We should go. This may be our only chance. Please."

Anzu reached out and squeezed his shoulder gently. "I'm with you, Yuugi-kun."

"There's a tactical advantage to having the other us on our side, instead of against us." Ryou directed his argument to the other three standing opposite. "If we can reveal the details of Kaiba Corp's cloning initiative, it could turn the tide of public opinion and support against them. At the very least, political pressure from the rest of the world would force our government to drop its defense contracts with them."

Amane disagreed though, "Ryou-kun, we all want this as badly as you do. But if we all go down now, it's really over. I know you want to believe in them, in Yuugi; but you can't just forget what they did to us hours ago. Sugoroku-san risked his life so that we would have the chance to save Yuugi-kun in his stead. We can't waste his efforts now."

"And we don't leave anyone behind," the white-haired IDS countered. His words struck like a painful slap across their faces.

"What the hell! You guys are even more screwed if I don't come along." Jounouchi sauntered over to their side.

Honda soon followed after giving Ryou's older sister an apologetic nod.

Amane relented finally. "I've been outvoted," she said with more than a hint of exasperation.


	8. Social Contract

268 took a long sip from his coffee cup, savoring the taste of the dark brew. It was the most expensive brew he could track down on such a short notice. The unlimited spending credit that Kaiba Corp gave him was always the best part of field operations. He was supposed to use discretion in spending said credit, but he had a history of getting away with much worse.

Like the time he sent a 200,000 yen flower bouquet to Kaiba Noah or 500 kilos of wild Nova Scotian smoked salmon to a church in Chiba for kicks.

If they didn't decommission him over that, they certainly weren't going to do it now. Yeah, nothing like sitting alone at a downtown Tokyo coffeehouse with a 5000 yen beverage to accompany some light reading. He had downloaded all the files and records he could find on Bakura Ryou. There wasn't much else to do while waiting for his partner to finally show up.

He glanced down at the document open on his tablet. His progenitor shared much in common with Mutou Yuugi: Both were recruited into the KaibaCorp research program when they were fourteen; they even roomed together while in the local facility. But it wasn't before long that their individual talents earned them specialized attention that moved them out of the general population. Up until two years ago, Bakura Ryou was just another subject in xenomorphic experiments before he was freed by rebels. He resurfaced three months later as part of an underground resistance movement and was caught on tape at the break-in of another research lab.

But 268 was far more interested in the other records— the ones that told him about Ryou's family (divorced parents and the older sister, Amane) and his upbringing.

He rested the tablet computer next to the cup instead. He had phoned his partner almost half an hour ago, but there was no real telling when 275 would finally choose to grace him with the pleasure of his taciturn company.

"May I take this seat?"

He glanced around the rest of the cafe before actually looking at the woman who had spoken. It was almost 8PM, and there were plenty of other open tables and armchairs scattered around him. She was in her mid- to late-twenties, her bright red lipstick in stark contrast with the navy of her form-fitting sweater dress.

A quick scan of her surface thoughts confirmed his suspicions. He admired her gumption though.

"I'm sorry," he feigned apology. "But I'm saving the seat for my boyfriend."

"Oh," her shoulders immediately slouched in disappointment. "I'm sorry for bothering you then. Have a good evening."

She shuffled away with a slight sigh. He didn't watch her go, not wanting to invite further attention. A flash from a running advertisement outside the window caught his attention instead. He focused on the electronic billboard across the street just in time to see the Kaiba Corporation's logo at the end of the beverage commercial. He smile wryly to himself. His masters really did have their fingers in every pie in Japan, from consumer electronics to food production.

Absently, he reached up and touched the collar around his throat. 268 liked to think he could feel the hum of the electronics working through each cycle. It made sure he never forgot about his shackles, that he not let his guard down too much in his times away from the lab. The cloning techniques were getting more and more advanced. Looking to the future his partner indicated, it wouldn't be long before he was considered an obsolete model.

A 300 million yen investment he may be, but there was no doubt he would be decommissioned when that time came.

An infrequent, but not unfamiliar, feeling of rage simmered at the thought.

It wasn't a completely hopeless situation. There was a potential way out of Kaiba Noah's grip, but it was dangerous and more than just a bit prone to go belly up. He couldn't do it alone, yet he had no one to help him escape.

He looked down at the photo in his progenitor's file, turned the screen off, and pocketed the tablet. When he looked up to the window again, he blinked. His eyes met with his partner's, who was standing on the other side of the glass. Unwittingly, 268 brought his right hand up and waved slowly. 275 stared for several moments longer before walking away.

Upon approaching the table, 275 jumped straight into business, "Have you found anything?"

268 shrugged. "Not much."

Mutou Yuugi and his gang were no longer on their home turf, but that also meant they had less contact with the underground scene in Tokyo. There wouldn't be much for him to dig up until they resurfaced again for supplies or help.

"How about you?" he asked the shorter man.

"Hn" was the only reply given.

268 rolled his eyes. His partner was never much of a conversationalist to begin with, but even he seemed unusually quiet now. "Is everything okay?"

275 looked lost for a brief moment. But the expression fled as quickly as it appeared. "We should continue our investigation."

As 268 pulled on his trenchcoat, 275 paused to consider something in the distance.

"Why is that woman staring at us?" 275 asked.

It was the woman that had tried flirting with him earlier. He thought she had already left the shop. 268 shrugged. "I told her you were my boyfriend."

275 furrowed his brow in contemplation, probably trying to wrap his mind around the idea. 268 jumped when his partner grabbed his hand.

"Should we not maintain the cover story?" 275 must have sensed his surprise.

268 turned ever so slightly toward the woman seated in the back of the cafe. He waved, and she ducked behind her magazine to hide her flushed face. Finding that he enjoyed getting that reaction, he pulled his partner along by the hand and into the evening Tokyo crowd.

-x-x-x-

Yuugi scrambled to keep up with Jounouchi's longer stride. The taller blond man had activated his holo-emitter upon leaving the dilapidated building they were hiding out in. Yuugi paused in the alleyway before remembering to activate his own.

Slung across Jounouchi's shoulder was a messenger bag of supplies that Ryou had handed them before they left. His holstered gun was visible under the short flaps of his emulated leather jacket. The chrome metal shone underneath the flickering street lights. Yuugi tried to remember who else among the group carried a gun: Honda and Amane did too.

"Does Bakura-kun also carry a weapon?" Yuugi asked.

"Bakura refuses to pack a piece and he's a better shot than all of us." Jounouchi checked around the next corner for any unexpected surprises.

"But you do?"

"Hey, I'm not nearly as strong an IDS as you or Bakura. I'll take whatever help I can get."

They took several alleyways to dodge the patrol cars on the main street. The police in Tokyo made a big show of patrolling the outer wards, but in reality, they did little more than harrass the residents.

Their destination was a hole-in-the-wall eatery, where a daily menu (of miso ramen and beef stir-fry) was scribbled on half a whiteboard on one wall. On another wall was a large crack creeping up toward the ceiling and what looked like a dangerous mold condition. A bored waiter/cashier behind the counter flipped through the newspaper. There was just one lone customer in the corner, crouching over a bowl of soup.

"Whaddya want?" The employee spat the words out around the lit cigarette between his lips.

"Uh, we're here for the weekly special."

The surly waiter jabbed one finger in the direction of a door labeled "Employees only" before returning to peruse the horse races. A cook in the small makeshift kitchen between them and the door glared as they passed.

The door led to what appeared to be a storeroom with boxes stacked everywhere. A desk was situated in the center of the room. Behind it, a muscular blond man was reclined back in his seat with his booted feet resting on top of the table.

"You Raphael?" The foreign name rolled awkwardly off Jounouchi's tongue.

The man unfolded his arms from across his chest and sat up. "I am."

Jounouchi approached and dropped the messenger bag on the tabletop. "We're here to trade."

Raphael flashed a wry smile. "Isn't everyone? What can I get," his eyes slid over to Yuugi momentarily before refocusing his attention on Jounouchi. "For you gentlemen?"

"A dozen clips of ammo for the Glock 17, two Glock 19 handguns, an EMP device, and some C4 and blasting caps."

Yuugi gaped at Jounouchi in shock. According to Ryou, this was one of the less risky errands to run before their rescue attempt tonight. If that was the case, he had to wonder what the rest of them were doing.

Raphael threw open the flap of the messenger bag to rummage through its content. He pulled a circuit board and put it aside before saying, "The ammo, standard law enforcment issue, is simple enough, but C4 is expensive and extremely hard to come by nowadays."

"Well, they say you're the best in all of Tokyo. We're offering you a more than fair trade." Jounouchi leaned forward against the desk and produced a large and black boxy device from inside the bag.

Raphael just lifted an eyebrow in response, but Yuugi sensed that the his respect just grew by a leap and bound. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep, a working prototype straight from the depths of a KC research lab. You must know how hard it is to get your hand on one of these."

Raphael placed one hand on top of the box. "Everything you wanted and two bricks of C4."

Jounouchi planted a hand on top of Raphael's, preventing the muscular blond man from reeling in his prize. "Six."

"Four."

"Deal."

-x-x-x-

For a majority of the population, hospitals were largely obsolete institutions. With increasingly effective gene therapies treating more and more chronic illnesses, the entire medical profession shrank by more than 70 percent in the last six years. For four of those years, Kokunodai Hospital had been closed to the public after being bought out by the Kaiba Corporation.

The surrounding neighborhood had been quickly forced out by Kaiba Corp's arrival. Video cameras were installed at major street junctions, and security officers were known to regularly patrol the area to scare off potential squatters. A security fence around the hospital's immediate perimeters kept trespassers out.

Yuugi took the binoculars offered to him and peered through the lenses. From their position on the roof of Tokyo Medical and Dental University's old building, he could see that the area around the fence was well-lit and covered by a number of wireless security cameras.

"Jounouchi-kun?" Ryou asked.

"It's Kaiba Corp's standard setup as far as I can tell. The fence is electrified and there's motion sensors set up every two feet. Supersensitive shit too. There's no good way to get around it. It's easier to con our way in the front door and then disable it from the inside."

"The other me said he would disable to fence for us in the note," Yuugi passed the binoculars over to Ryou.

Yuugi, Jounouchi, and Ryou pulled away from the edge of the roof. They rejoined the others, who were sorting the contents of their remaining duffel bag into two other backpacks they had picked up on the way over.

Honda handed a fistful of capsules the size of soda caps to Anzu. "Here, the others will need the flash bangs more. We'll take what's left and the C-4."

Yuugi's eyes slid nervously to the three bricks of C-4 set aside. "Are the explosives really necessary?"

"They're a good distraction and can provide some cover for our exit." Jounouchi took the plastic explosives and packed them into his and Honda's backpack.

"As long as the cheap ass detonator works this time," Honda muttered.

"Take it up with Kaiba, he's the one rigging the detonators together."

They didn't have much of a plan, and they had even less time to gather all the necessary supplies. Once they were inside the building, however, they were going to manage that, they were going to split up into two separate groups. Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu were going to head toward the labs in hopes of pilfering more supplies and freeing any xenos being held for testing. Yuugi, Ryou, and Amane were going to focus on finding and getting Sugoroku out of harm's way.

Yuugi didn't like the plan; he didn't like the idea of them splitting up or losing the others. But if their only other option was to leave his Jii-chan behind— well, that was unacceptable.

The shrill alarm on someone's wristwatch went off. It was 11PM. The lights around the security fence and on the hospital's roof went dark.

-x-x-x-

268 wasn't technically lurking around. He had reported in at the front gate and informed headquarters that he had returned to the hospital. But he was doing his best to make himself scarce as he tried to track down his partner—covertly. He didn't want 275 to know he was back just yet.

Trying to locate the other betaform proved surprisingly difficult. He knew 275 was in the hospital, even if he couldn't read the other's mind. No one could tell him exactly where 275 was at any given time. The orderlies guarding Mutou Sugoroku said 275 had been watching the old man until about 40 minutes ago. The guards at the front desk said that 275 hadn't left the facility since he first returned around 7PM. The doctors hadn't seen him at all.

268 was beginning to wonder if his partner was going around and wiping their memories with his mental compulsion.

Curiously, his search for his progenitor and friends had pointed him back in the direction of Kokunodai Hospital. He didn't think Yuugi and company would go so far as to walk into the lion's den just to save the grandfather. There was also the troubling issue of how they knew where the old man was being held in the first place.

If there was someone on the inside helping them, that would be an entirely different story.

275 had been acting strangely ever since Sugoroku's capture. At first, 268 was almost convinced it was his own imagination. But there were moments where he would catch flashes of something— some emotion— whenever 275 stared off into space or looked at Sugoroku. 275 became even more taciturn than before, but it was because he was hiding something.

He headed in the direction of the surveillance room. Maybe he would be able to catch a glimpse of his missing partner in one of the hospital's many security feeds.

268 was standing in front of the elevator when everything went dark. The elevator came screeching to a halt in the shaft, soon followed by shouting from the people trapped inside. Reaching out with his mind, all he received was a blurred mass of panic in the immediate area. He tried to push into the outer limits of his mental range, but the sudden cacophony of wild emotions made it difficult.

He turned around and ran toward the stairs.

-x-x-x-

The only light was cast by the emergency exit sign over head. The guard on-duty remained slack-jawed and stared vacantly from his seat. 275 looked up at the rows of blank video monitors and slipped out of the room. Behind him, the door slammed shut and locked down with a new entry code, just as he had compelled the guard to do once he left. He marched swiftly in the direction of Sugoroku's room. He had been secretly weaning the old man off the sedatives for the last two hours, so Yuugi's grandfather would hopefully be awake any minute now.

Yuugi and his friends weren't going to have a lot of time. The best course of action was to bring Sugoroku to them. Despite the extra occupant in the hospital, there were only a total of 25 security officers on duty. But headquarters knew the minute that the facility's system went offline and reinforcements were no doubt already on their way. Three other guards raced past him toward the surveillance room— but they wouldn't be getting in any time soon.

The two orderlies standing at the entrance to Sugoroku's room were twitchy and nervous, but they had not abandoned their post yet.

"Get me a wheelchair, I'm going to move the prisoner to a more secure location," 275 snapped.

One of them quickly returned with a wheelchair, and they helped disconnect Sugoroku from the machines and moved him into the chair.

"Go, find out what's happening."

Yuugi and the other's best bet was to be infiltrate the facility from the roof. They would be able to fly in on the back of one of their xenos. 275 had no idea what type of equipment they'd be able to bring with them, so it was going to be better to err on the side of caution. He needed to ensure that they didn't stick around for too long and risk capture.

They were going to have to take the stairs until power was restored. 275 pulled Sugoroku from the wheelchair and onto his back. His knees buckled under the weight, but he was able to rearrange his grip before his grandfather slid off.

This would be a lot easier if he could just drag the prone body like in his training.


	9. Individuation

Yuugi's heart lurched when Jounouchi gave a thumbs up between slinking off in the opposite direction with Anzu and Honda. Though Amane and Ryou didn't show it, Yuugi knew they were just as nervous. Ryou fretted over their lack of intelligence— they had only been able to get their hands on a set of old blueprints with such short notice. They were all going to have to do their best based on the vague recollections of someone who had been in the hospital before it was bought out. And Kaiba Corp had added several hundred square feet of new space since they initially acquired the facilities.

They were able to fly in and land on the roof on the east end of the compound under the cover of darkness. Though Yuugi wanted to trust in his other self, even he had to admit it would be too stupid to fall easily and willingly into any traps that may be set for them.

He shone the flashlight down the long and dark hallway. The others had offered him a weapon before they set out. It was cold and heavy to his touch. And after turning the gun in his sweaty hands several times over, he returned it. He'd rather rely on his xenos if it ever came down to it.

They came across three doors locked behind card keys and keypads, but managed to blow through with small explosive fuses. No alarm ever went off though.

"Where is everyone?" Amane asked after glancing over her shoulder a dozen times.

"They'll be on us soon enough. The security system's not going to stay offline for much longer." Ryou glanced down at his wristwatch.

"How are we even supposed—" Amane jumped and reached for her weapon when Yuugi's other self suddenly stepped into the hallway.

275 looked briefly to the gun pointed at him before moving his gaze to meet Yuugi's. "You're here."

"Where's... your partner?" Ryou asked. He almost looked disappointed to not see his own clone.

"268 is not involved in this. He's probably working with the security forces right now. I promise you he's not hiding in wait."

Amane snarled slightly. "Your word doesn't mean as much as you think."

Yuugi took several steps forward toward 275. "Where's Jii-chan?"

275 gestured to the room he just emerged from. "Your grandfather is still coming off the sedatives, so it may be a while before he's conscious again."

"Wait, Yuugi."

He ignored Amane and marched into the room. His grandfather was indeed slumped in a chair with his eyes closed. He approached with trepidation, fearing for a moment that Sugoroku was an illusion or worse, dead. But he could see the older man's chest rise and fall with each breath. To be sure, he placed a hand on his grandfather's warm shoulder and squeezed.

Behind him, the others filed into the room. Even Amane relaxed a little at the sight of Sugoroku.

Yuugi turned to his other self. "Thank you for helping us."

"Where are your friends? I remember there being more of you." 275 furrowed his brow in confusion as he scanned their little group again.

Ryou bit down on his lower lip. "They're busy elsewhere."

"Whatever they're doing, make it quick. You should find them and leave soon. The guards will probably regain access to the security system at any moment." 275 backed away from them and headed toward the exit.

Suddenly, the ground rocked underneath them and sent Sugoroku tumbling out of the chair. Yuugi dove and managed to cushion his grandfather's fall. The quake was immediately followed by the sound of a fire alarms echoing through the hallway.

"What was that?" Ryou climbed back to his feet.

"That was 4 bricks of C4 set off in the room adjacent to the surveillance room." 268 proclaimed as he entered the room. Behind him trailed Anzu, Honda, and Jounouchi, each with similarly guilty expressions. Ryou's clone tossed something to 275, who held it up for everyone to see. It was the detonator for the plastic explosives.

"Sorry, he caught us and made me move the C4." Jounouchi hung his head.

275 moved in front of Yuugi and his grandfather, as if he meant to block the other clone's path. "What are you trying to do, 268? You should also know by now that you won't beat me in a fight."

268 gave an impressed whistle. He grinned with the same smile as the Cheshire Cat's, loaded with bemusement. "Probably not, but look at you: Just one day out of the cage and you're already keeping secrets and rebelling. Why I couldn't have been prouder. I've been helping too. If it wasn't for me, the guards would have put the pieces together by now and you'd be dead. I just brought us another half an hour. I even brought the rest of the group with me."

"Then why did you put a knife to my throat?" Honda snapped.

"I knew you weren't going to just believe me, and I didn't have the time to convince you that I was more or less on your side. Playing the villain was just as effective and faster." 268 snickered and received several dirty looks in return.

"Why?" asked 275.

"If I don't have your back, who does?" The other betaform replied, his words colored by something akin to affection.

"Yuugi?" Sugoroku asked. "Is that you?"

"Jii-chan!" Yuugi blinked back tears of joy. He took his grandfather's hand, trying to reassure himself.

Sugoroku lurched forward, but he stumbled and Yuugi caught him. For a long moment, Sugoroku just stared up at Yuugi. The confusion visible on his face only deepened when he looked toward the other occupants of the room, lingering especially on the clones standing near the door. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here."

"I couldn't leave you behind," Yuugi squeezed his grandfather's hand harder.

275's shoulders tensed. He stepped back to put more distance between himself and the rest of the group. "You should go now. We've only managed to buy you so much time."

Despite Sugoroku's protest, Jounouchi transferred him onto his back in a piggy-back hold. Yuugi reached up to reassure his grandfather— who was clearly not ready to walk under his own power yet. He looked back at his twin and said, "Thank you, thank you for helping Jii-chan."

"Come with us," Ryou approached the two betaforms with open hands.

275 shook his head. "We've already done all we can. They'll kill us before we even get to the city limits."

"And if you stay, they'll probably find out that you helped us."

"Actually, there may be a way." 268 spoke up suddenly. All heads in the room turned immediately toward him.

"There is?" 275 asked.

"But it's risky, we're just as likely to get killed trying to remove it. Are you okay with that?"

The two betaforms stared at each other, almost as if they were engaged in a mental conversation. There was no hesitation on 268's face though. After several seconds, the expression on 275's face hardened.

"Tell me."

268 pulled a blank piece of paper off the desk and began sketching. 275 stood close by, watching over his partner's shoulder. Yuugi was the first to approach the betaform as he worked. Soon the others gathered around too. It looked like a rough schematic of something.

268 pointed to the collar around his neck and began explaining his plan, "Our collars are equipped with all sorts of monitoring devices. Most people would think to target those first, but everything is EM and x-ray shielded, there are redundancy circuits and trip switches. Given time, we could theoretically figure out how to electronically disable the devices. But we don't have any actual blueprints to work with and we don't have the time either. There are also two chambers of chemicals, they are what's injected into our bloodstream for termination protocols. The nerve toxin targets the cells in our brains and is immediately fatal," 268 paused momentarily and pointed to two of the three boxes in his drawing.

"But KaibaCorp needs more assurance than just killing us though. If our bodies are taken by the proper authorities, it could blow the lid on their secret cloning project. The Japanese government's hand will be forced by other nations and they will not allow illegal cloning operations to continue. That is why there's an additional measure built into the collars. Once the instruments have confirmed that a beta has been dead for four full minutes after respiratory failure, what's left of the two chemical is funneled into the third chamber and mixed. The final result is also injected, causing rapid cellular decomposition and basically melts the corpse into nothing."

Yuugi shivered. "That's... inhuman. You have to live with the constant threat of this over your head every day?"

"That's the weak link in their chain." 268 smirked.

"I don't get it," said Jounouchi.

"There is no way to beat the nerve toxin. Even if you were able to revive us, our brains would basically be mush. But while the chemicals are being mixed in the third chamber, that killswitch is rendered useless. What we need to do is simulate death for four minutes to trigger that reaction. There will be a fifteen second window to cut the collars off then." 268 pulled back from his sketch, giving them time to consider his plan.

Honda looked nauseated. "You're asking too much. If we take too long, you'll—"

275 interrupted, "Die and not even leave a trace of hair behind."

"Okay, even I think this sounds stupidly dangerous," Jounouchi objected.

"Four minutes is a long time to spend in respiratory arrest. You're pushing the limits of the human body. There's no telling the amount of brain damage either of you may suffer even after we revive you." Amane shook her head and pulled away from the huddle. "You can't seriously be considering such a reckless plan."

"Still better to die on our own terms."

-x-x-x-

It turned out that 268 had already made Jounouchi and the others gather most of the equipment they needed beforehand. The two betaforms each laid in a hospital bed while hooked up to an electrocardiogram machine. Yuugi could only watch in silence as they argued briefly over the best compound to stop their hearts with. Given their limited access though, the two finally settled on some sort of potassium solution.

"You're going to have to do both of us at once," 268 betrayed no sign of nervousness though. "Otherwise, headquarters might become suspicious and initiate the termination protocol on the other preemptively."

Honda's hands trembled slightly when he took the other syringe offered by Amane. Out of everyone else in the group, he was the only one with any medical experience after Ryou's sister.

Both betas were strapped down with the leather restraints attached to the hospital beds— a precaution in case they started seizing.

"Ready?" Amane looked to Honda.

The other man swallowed. "No, but let's get this over with."

275 met Yuugi's gaze with steely resolve. "If this doesn't work, leave us behind."

Yuugi wanted to protest. He wanted to convince them to bide their time until they could remove the collars in a safer way. But he couldn't. He couldn't ask them to confine themselves back to their prisons. Instead, he just lowered his gaze without answering.

Through his bangs, he could see Amane and Honda plunge the syringes into each of the beta's arm. 268 and 275 tensed in response as the clear liquid drained into their bodies. The long seconds that followed were silent except for the beeping of the electrocardiograms. Each sound from the monitors seemed to coincide with Yuugi's heartbeat.

Then all of a sudden, that was no longer the case. The machines were beeping too frequently— too quickly. The normal pattern of small mounds, undershoots, and sharp peaks on the monitors warped into a constant repetition of the same rounded hills. 275 struggled to breathe; his chest rose and fall erratically out of sync with his increasing heart rate. His eyes were shut, and Yuugi couldn't tell if he was even conscious anymore.

268's condition rapidly devolved to mirror his partner's. Every now and then, the betas would shudder against their restraints before stilling again. It was disconcerting to watch.

"I hope this doesn't last much longer," Amane pleaded out loud.

It only made sense people fighting so hard for their own lives and freedom would have trouble letting go in the face of death. Yuugi resolved to ask if either of them remembered anything once they both woke up.

268 was the first one to finally flatline. Everyone jumped into a flurry of motion as they scrambled for surgical scissors, stopwatches, and more syringes filled with drugs that Yuugi couldn't keep straight. Almost thirty seconds later, 275 followed suit, filling the room with a long stretch of prolonged screeching from the electrocardiograms.

Yuugi's heart was pounding in his chest when Amane handed him the scissors. He looked over at Ryou, who was similarly posed over the prone body of his twin on the other bed with another pair of scissors in hand.

Before Yuugi knew it, four minutes had passed and Ryou was ripping the torn collar away from 268's neck.

"Go!" Amane jostled him with a loud hiss next.

On the next bed over, Honda was already trying to resuscitate the other beta through CPR while Ryou injected the cocktail of drugs the betas had specified.

Yuugi's hands shook as he snagged the collar between the two blades. The leather and the electronics embedded inside resisted the pressure he initially applied. He snapped the blades close with all the force he could muster, barely containing his cry of joy when the he finally felt something break apart. He may have nicked his twin's neck, causing a brief spiral into panic. He managed to keep his wits long enough to avoid pricking 275 with injection site when he removed the collar.

As soon as he was done, Amane was pushing him out of the way.

Yuugi was so intent on staring at his own twin that he completely forgot about 268 until the white-haired beta started gasping loudly for air and thrashing against the bed. Ryou pushed his twin gently back into the mattress with a constant stream of reassurance.

But 275 remained unresponsive.


	10. Self-Actualization

268's entire body ached. He was still seeing black spots in his vision. He could hear the sound of his heartbeat registering on the ECG. But the kind face of his progenitor smiled down at him, warming his being. 268 smiled in return.

God, they'd managed to pull it off.

He turned his head to side, brushing his cheek against the pillow. The joy he felt— freed from the collar— quickly changed to dread. 275 laid unresponsive on the other bed as 268 finally registered the other ECG machine's shrieking.

275 was still in asystolic arrest.

"Get these restraints off me," he was surprised with the volume he managed to speak. After his hands were freed, the first thing he did was touch his neck. The broken collar laid on the surgical tray next to several instruments.

"You should rest," Ryou said to him.

He shook his head slowly, savoring how there was no leather to chafe against his neck. "I'm fine." But the raspy words rattled his throat.

As 268 stumbled around the hospital bed to his partner's side, he collided into Yuugi and pushed him into the railings. He muttered a brief apology before falling on his progenitor's sister for support. Amane paused briefly in the midst of giving CPR to regain her balance.

"Don't stop," he said to Amane. "Have you given him the atrophine yet?"

She nodded. "And the calcium chloride to counter the extra potassium. I also gave him a dose of adrenaline a minute ago."

268 fumbled with the many vials on the counter top. He stopped and gripped the edge of the table as his vision blurred momentarily. The shortness of breath was not a good sign. At this rate, they might need to find some sodium polystyrene sulfonate or furosemide before they left the hospital. He managed to keep his hands still as he prepped 15 units of insulin with 50ml of 50% dextrose. It would help treat the potassium overdose, but the larger issue was jump-starting his partner's heart.

He rummaged through the inner pockets of his discarded trenchcoat for the autoinjector. The autoinjector contained an experimental drug developed by the scientists at Kaiba Corp and was distributed to all betaforms as part of their field assignment kits. As a hyper-stimulant that could cause just as much damage, it was supposed to be used as an instrument of last resort. But seeing as 275 was... well, clinically dead at the moment, there wasn't much more harm that he could do.

268 turned to Yuugi and held up the autoinjector for him to see. "Search his coat and things, there should be one of these somewhere."

He busied himself with administering the insulin in the meanwhile. 275's body was, of course, still warm to the touch. Yuugi returned with the second autoinjector when he was finished. He signaled to Amane for stop and move back for a bit. Yuugi jumped, along with Jounouchi and Anzu, when 268 plunged both of the injectors into 275's chest. He counted to ten underneath his breath before releasing the injectors and pulling back.

"Go, CPR," he rasped.

Another full minute passed as Amane continued to work, but the ECG gave only a flatline reading.

"It's been almost ten minutes," Ryou hesitated before he spoke out loud. "What do we do now?"

His progenitor was right. They were running out of time; 275 was running out of time.

"Bakura-kun, please."

It took him more than a second to realize that Yuugi was addressing him and not Ryou.

Amane was also beginning to tire— her movements grew more jerky each time she pushed down on 275's chest.

"Come on," 268 declared while leaning over his partner. A bead of sweat rolled down his cheeks and fell against 275's closed eyelid. Just as he was about to seal his lips around 275's, the ECG gave a short shrill beep.

275's heart skipped a brief beat.

And the ECG gave another beep, followed by the next, and another.

275's ruby eyes sprang open, startlingly clear and alert, and he sucked in a lung full of air.

-x-x-x-

Yuugi squeezed the hand attached to the arm swung over his shoulder and 275 smiled lightly in return. 268 looked like he would have collapsed already if he wasn't being supported between Ryou and Jounouchi. 275 at least had the hyper-stimulant running through him.

As they reached the door separating them from the next section of hallway, the lights overhead came on. A loud clunk echoed off the walls as the door automatically bolted itself.

"There." Amane pointed to a camera hanging off the ceiling. The red light above the lens indicated it was recording.

They were out of time. Someone had managed to get the security system back online.

Honda produced a handheld device from his bag. There was a keycard attached to the device by a wire. He swiped the card through the card reader next to the bolted door. The device just gave a loud beep; it sounded like an error sound from a computer.

"It's no good," Honda growled. "They must have cycled the passcodes with the reboot."

"Okay, I think we're past the time for subtlety. They know we're here and we need to get out asap."

"An EMP then?"

268 shook his head. "They're shielded."

"Allow me to do the honors," 275 straightened up and pulled away from Yuugi. "Chimera."

The lights flickered momentarily, and Yuugi felt the same tug in his navel whenever another IDS summoned nearby. A summoning always left an aftertaste in his mouth, even if he wasn't the one doing it.

The two-headed beast that materialized threw back its wings and gave a low growl; Yuugi stumbled back to avoid being slapped. The double doors came down with just two rams from the creature. In another 100 feet, they were met with another set of bolted security doors. Chimera wheeled back on its hind legs, about to charge again.

"Wait!" 268 reached over and grabbed his partner's arm. "There's an ambush waiting on the other side."

275 stared hard at the door for several moments before nodding.

"Then where's the next access point to the roof?" Anzu asked.

"The one past that door is the closest. But I don't think escape via the roof isn't viable anymore; we'll never get enough cover. Do you want to bet that they won't try to shoot us down at this point?"

Jounouchi let loose a string of curses under his breath.

Sugoroku's gaze moved back and forth between the two betaforms. "What are our options then?"

"The garage," 275 finally said. "We can break through if we take one of the trucks."

"That's three floors down!" the white-haired betaform protested.

"If we double back to the last hallway down the left, we can make it. We'll need to take out each camera on the way and quick." 275 turned and pointed down the corridor.

"There may be a better way," Ryou piqued. "Shadow Ghoul."

Yuugi jumped back as a pair of claws suddenly reached out of Ryou's shadow. The xeno's skin was green and wrinkled; its body littered with the same red orbs that lined its long face like rows of buggy eyes. The tendrils on the muzzle twitched, and it turned its head in Ryou's direction.

"Uh, Bakura, it takes a lot just to get the three of us through walls usually. But there's nine of us right now." Jounouchi bounced on the heel of his feet with poorly concealed nervous energy.

Ryou looked to 268, his expression shining with hope. "We share similar affinity types, you must also know a xeno capable of phasing."

268 did not call up a second Shadow Ghoul, but something called "Diabound." The humanoid torso that emerged from a wall was ghostly pale and translucent. What followed on the other end was not legs, but a long reptilian appendage that wasn't a tail because of the snake's head with fangs and all. Diabound wrapped around 268, steadying itself by grasping the beta's shoulders with its muscular arms.

"Let's get out of here."

Ryou grabbed his hand and the world melted into darkness. Yuugi's first instinct was to panic. The floor had fell away from his feet, and Ryou's grip was his only remaining anchor. But he couldn't see Ryou— just the inky black stretched out forever. When his feet met solid ground once more, Yuugi's knees buckled beneath him. He braced his forehead against the cold concrete floor, as he tried to will away the dark circle dancing in his vision. There was another loud thud when someone else landed next to him. He didn't pull his head back up until the third or fourth thud.

Yuugi looked up just in time to see 268, Diabound, and Honda fall through the ceiling. Their faint outline solidified again when they touched down. Honda looked like he was ready to lose his dinner though.

"I'm sticking with Bakura next time," the brown-haired man gasped between deep intakes of air. "At least I can't see what's going on."

268 didn't reply and was gone once again after being enveloped by his Diabound.

A hearty slap landed across Yuugi's shoulder blades, giving rise to a wave of stomach-wrenching nausea. Maybe he hadn't recovered as much as he thought.

"Don't worry," Jounouchi ruffled through his hair softly. The gesture was surprisingly soothing. "I hurled the first time Bakura took me through. You'll get used to it."

268 returned last with 275. Yuugi was immediately envious of his other self— the betaform landed with gracefully with barely a strand of hair out of place.

They took a few moments to recover. 275 offered Yuugi a hand, which Yuugi gladly took for any help was appreciated at this time. The hand that closed around his was warm and gentle. Anzu was the last to pick herself up from the floor, still shivering all the while.

There were almost no security cameras in the basement. But that fact made Yuugi even more uncomfortable for some reason. The fluorescent lights overhead hummed even over the sound of their pounding footsteps. Yuugi tried not to think about how pasty his skin looked under the lighting.

Jounouchi and Honda broke out into a run when they saw the door labeled "Garage." They were almost home free. The underground complex used to serve as the parking lot for the hospital when it was running. It was mostly empty now, except for the employees' cars and the lone black vehicle and the men decked out in riot gear unloading from the back. The letters "KC" were emblazoned across the front of each bulletproof vest.

When their two groups spotted each other, they all froze. A quick estimate informed Yuugi that they were outnumbered almost two to one.

"Shit," someone snapped after a second, breaking the stunned trance.

The KaibaCorp security force immediately brought up their guns and opened fire.

Yuugi squeaked; 275 grabbed him around the waist and hauled him against a cement pillar on the other side of the doors. Everyone else dove behind a set of cars parked on the other side of the doorway. A spray of bullets peppered the doorway, riddling the wood full of holes. Several shots clipped the edge of the pillar, knocking off dust and concrete chunks. Yuugi clamped his hands over his ears, but each shot still caused him to jump.

"What the hell is that?" Honda shouted over the sound of the automatic fire.

Then it was silent again.

"It must be the reinforcements," 268 looked over to 275.

"Come out with your hands in the air, and we won't harm you." One of the KC security officers declared.

Both of the betaforms charged out with a xeno materializing at their side. More shots were fired, but with no corresponding cries of pain, Yuugi could only assume no one was hit. He peered around the side of the pillar to see what was going on. Diabound lunged at the group of armed men, passing through another spray of bullets like a ghost. 275's xeno— a gold-plated dragon curled protectively around the betaform— spewed a breath of fire, and breaking their would-be assailants' formation.

Ryou, Jounouchi, and Amane sprang into action. Before Yuugi could blink, Amane and Jounouchi each knocked out one man. Ryou was drawing another two's attention while his Shadow Ghoul struck from behind and disarmed them.

"Yuugi, everyone else go!" 275 shouted.

When Honda came over and dragged Yuugi out from behind the pillar, he had no choice but to follow the other man's lead. Anzu and his grandfather was just steps behind them. They stepped over several unconscious bodies while heading toward the large truck that belonged to the security force.

"Get in the back," Honda directed before vanishing around the side of the truck.

Yuugi climbed into the back first, before helping Anzu to lift his grandfather up. When she was about to climb in herself, a hand suddenly came out of nowhere and caught her by the hair. She flailed wildly in an attempt to get free, but the guard was already pulling her back.

Yuugi grabbed the first thing he could find: a nightstick. The stick connected solidly with the side of the officer's helmeted head, forcing him to release her. She turned and delivered a swift kick to his groin before scrambling into the vehicle.

"Thanks," she muttered.

The truck shuddered as the engines came to life. They were soon joined in the back by everyone else, but 275 was nowhere in sight. Ryou banged twice on the wall between them and the driver's seat; Honda's face appearing in a newly opened panel seconds later.

"Go!"

The vehicle shot forward, sending Yuugi flying into the white-haired man.

"Wait, my other self!" He grabbed onto the nearby bench as he tried to regain his balance.

"Is the other Yuugi-kun still out there?" Ryou asked. "Is he hurt?"

"I see him, but he's surrounded."

"Go in, we'll handle the rest."

"Okay, but you better hope this thing is the bullet-proof kind."

When the truck swerved around this time, Yuugi was ready. The back doors were still swinging open and shut, giving them a partially obstructed view of the remaining four security officers as they swung past.

268 waved his arms and shouted, "Time to book it, partner!"

275 hesitated momentarily, still behind the protection of his armored dragon. When the dragon unfurled its long spiny tail and swung at one of the men shooting at it, 275 broke away and made a run for the moving truck. Yuugi joined 268, holding the other door open. His ears were still ringing when a bullet ricocheted off the side, just inches from his head.

275 couldn't seem to close the last two feet and Honda wasn't slowing down either. Yuugi cemented his resolve; he wasn't going to leave his other self behind. They were all going to get out of this together.

"What are you doing?" Ryou asked behind him.

Yuugi ignored the other man, grabbed onto the bar by the door and stretched his remaining arm out until he was dangling halfway out of the vehicle. The wind whipped through his hair. Below him was a view of the rushing pavement that would hurt like hell if he lost his grip now.

"Take my hand!"

275 took a deep breath and jumped forward. Their fingers met and closed. Yuugi's arms screamed in pain at the added weight, but he pulled back with all of his strength. 268 caught 275's other hand in mid-air. With the other beta's help, there was finally enough momentum to yank 275 into the safety of the vehicle.

As Yuugi tried to catch his breath while lying on the floor with the two betas at his side, the doors were finally shut.

"I can't believe we made it." Jounouchi gave a celebratory yelp.

"We're not out yet," warned Ryou. "We still have to get past the front gate."

"Which we are coming up on in about ten seconds!" Honda exclaimed. "Hold onto something back there!"

The entire trailer shook, knocking a first-aid kit off an overhead shelf. But Yuugi could feel the wheels sailing off the ground, to their hard won freedom at last. He turned his head to the side and caught 275's gaze. Adrenaline is coursing through Yuugi's veins, his heart hammering away in his ribcage. Their hands are still joined, clasped around each other's wrists with the tattoo of their racing pulses fluttering against finger pads. Yuugi and 275 simultaneously cracked the same hysterical grin full of manic relief.

They both had never felt so alive and free before that moment.

_~End of Part 1~_


	11. Anzu's Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anzu wasn't always a fugitive. Before that, she hadn't always been a resistance fighter either.

_Three years before Yuugi's escape_

It was not Anzu's first protest demonstration, nor would it be her last. But she had never participated in one that turned so violent and so fast.

A band of fellow protesters in front of her suddenly surged back, causing her to fall into a classmate behind her. She thanked him when he helped keep her aloft. But her last chance to regain her composure before the chaos broke was already gone.

It was true that agitation would build and erupt in brief flares after demonstrating for hours. Shouting matches between them and the counter-protesters often took place. At worst, shouting escalated into shoving until the organizers pulled them back; and failing that, threats from the police always quelled the chaos until another day.

She didn't know what gave rise to the clash. In a few days' time, multiple newspapers and blogs were going to pinpoint it to an argument with a policeman that resulted in summoning a xeno— the act was immediately taken as a sign of hostility. Through a brief gap between the crowd, she spotted the Sacramento police in riot gear advancing like a marching phalanx.

Jim, her classmate from macroeconomics, grabbed her forearm again. "We gotta go, I think the cops are trying to start shit."

Pockets of protesters were already scattering around her. Everyone was running into the tree line, probably thinking they could escape by cutting through the Capitol Park. Jim was pulling her in the same direction. She hesitated for a moment before kicking off her heels and following him. The police did not look happy and she wasn't going to stick around to find out what they were going to do when they caught up.

They headed toward L Street, the minivan they came in was parked further north at Sacramento Convention Center. But the police had already locked down the road and set up a barricade with their squad cars. A sergeant posted behind the protection of a hummer vehicle screeched into a sound system, "This gathering has not been granted a permit by the city of Sacramento, you will disperse peacefully at once or face arrest."

"We don't need your permission to exercise our first amendment rights, pig!" Someone shouted over the din. A chorus of agreement rolled like a wave through the crowd gathered.

It didn't matter what came first in the end— the rocks or the tear gas. Anzu pressed the sleeve of her blouse against her mouth and nose, but there was little she could do to combat the gas irritating her eyes. They had been boxed in from behind by the squad of riot police from before. Jim's hand was ripped away, as he was tackled and pressed into the ground by a riot shield.

"Hey, let him go!" Anzu screamed.

She tried to pry the officer off her friend when something yanked her head back. It took a painful twist of her neck before she made out what was happening. Another officer had grabbed hold of her hair and was trying to drag her down. She screamed and thrashed, but the hand only tightened its grip. Her elbow collided with his riot shield, rattling her entire arm with pain.

"Let go!"

"Fuck you, you bully! Leave her alone!" A teenager with long blond hair and freckles popped out of the crowd. She weaved between two other cops diving at her and snatched something off one of their belts. The officer holding Anzu cried out and released her when the blond teenager sprayed the canister on the exposed part of his face.

From the officer's teary eyes and reddened face, Anzu knew he had been pepper-sprayed. She turned to thank her rescuer, but the blond girl was being handcuffed. Someone else tackled Anzu from the left, knocking the breath out of her and causing her vision to go black for seconds. Her head was still spinning when she registered the mouthful of dirt and the metal snapping around her wrists.

-x-x-x-

The United States was long mired in its protracted war with terrorism/to dismantle weapons of mass destruction/to bring democracy to the Middle East. The justification seemed to change every year or so. That was not to say that there weren't any hardline or right-wing groups screeching at the top of their lungs of their concerns about the "growing mutant lobby." The gist of their diatribe was, unsurprisingly, not dissimilar to those against gay marriage or illegal immigrants. But America had been too busy fighting a war abroad and persecuting another minority group, Muslims, at home to address the question of IDS in any meaningful legislative manner.

For the average American, the face of terrorism was radical, fundamental Islam.

Until now.

The Shinjuku Massacre was the first domestic terrorist attack by any IDS group in any developed country. With Japan officially under martial law and arresting all IDS they could get their hands on, citizens of other countries saw this as an opportunity to push their governments into taking more hardline positions against the "mutant menace." There were those that speculated it had only a matter of time in America as well. If it wasn't going to be their own citizens from within, it was going to be their enemies from without.

After Arizona, a number of states quickly rushed to pass legislature for registration, compulsory check-in, or some other cock and bull measure to impinge basic rights. California would not be far behind.

Anzu had seen the direction her home country of Japan had gone in. All she knew was that a government so invested in gathering power couldn't be counted on to preserve the civil liberties of its citizens.

-x-x-x-

The detention center was like a madhouse when Anzu and five others arrested arrived in the same van. There were at least two and a half dozen people stuffed into the bullpen. They were directed toward the only available space against a wall adjacent to the drinking fountain. Jim was seated at desk on the far side of the room. He appeared to be arguing heatedly with the officer processing him.

Most of the protesters arrested were in their late teens or early twenties, college students like herself. Anzu spotted an older black woman in her fifties that was also cuffed. She paused to admire the pose and calm that the older woman conducted herself with.

About twenty minutes later, a harried officer dragged her over to a empty desk. Anzu refused to sit and the cop declined to invite her to do so.

"Name," barked the officer. "Any aliases?"

Anzu remained silent. A few moments later, the officer sighed loudly, glared at her, and then proceeded to enter Jane Doe on the form.

"Address?"

Anzu looked away this time. She remained silent through the rest of the questions about her age and such.

"Fine, you don't want to say it. You're still going to be fingerprinted and photographed like everyone else, we'll know if you have a record soon enough."

Anzu knew her rights, and she didn't need to make it easy for them.

"What am I being charges with?" she finally asked.

"Disorderly conduct like the rest of these clowns. Simons, this one's good to go."

Another officer appeared and hastily shuffled her off to another room behind closed doors. The female officer inside patted Anzu down, confiscating her coat, wallet, and cellphone. The next stop was fingerprinting; the policemen there grabbed her wrists in a painful grip when he pressed her inky fingers against the paper. She made sure to smear a bit of ink on his uniform in retaliation. Getting her mugshot taken was an equally degrading experience with mud streaked across her cheeks.

Her trip ended in a holding cell already occupied by four other people. Jim wasn't in hers, nor did she see him in any of the others she passed on the way. The cement floor was cold, sending chills all the way from her bare feet to through the rest of her body. Anzu clasped her arms around herself and rubbed her shoulders to keep warm. 

Every few minutes, some other policeman or woman marched the next unfortunate soul in and stuffed them into one cell or another. She gave up standing at some point and huddled on the bench against one stony wall. Her fellow detainees were keeping busy with some idle conversation. Anzu was still tired from the all-nighter she pulled to finish her paper for Business Law. All the running around today certainly hadn't helped.

Not aware that she had drifted off at some point, she was shaken awake and nearly fell off the bench. It was the blond teenager who had saved her at the park; and she looked somewhat sheepish at having awoke Anzu.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you? My feet are killing me." Her voice was high and just a bit squeaky.

Anzu scooted over and made room next to her. The blond teenager brushed and flattened her skirt under her as she sat. Anzu looked down at her own dirty attire, muddy jeans and blouse, and scolded.

"Hi, I'm Rebecca Hopkins!" she offered a hand for Anzu to shake. When she smiled, it accentuated the fading baby fat in her cheeks.

"Anzu Mazaki, thanks for the help earlier."

Rebecca peered down at Anzu's bare feet and asked, "Did they take your shoes too?"

Anzu laughed and wiggled her toes. "Nah, I left them back at the park. Can't really run well in heels. I'm sorry, you seem a bit young to be here. How old are you?"

Rebecca glanced furtively around and cupped one hand over her mouth as she stage-whispered, "I told them I was 18, but I'm only 14. But they believed me after they saw my college ID card."

"You're a kid! Where are your parents?" Anzu knew she shouldn't stare— it was rude— but she couldn't help herself this time.

The combination of glaring and pouting undercut Rebecca's claim to maturity. "I am so tired of adults thinking they're so much smarter just because they're older. I'm a child genius, you know? And I'm a senior at UC Irvine. I came with a group of my classmates for the protest."

Now that felt like a kick in the proverbial balls. Rebecca may be younger, but she was still a year ahead of Anzu. But she supposed there was no good in sulking over it. Some people were just gifted.

"What about you?" Rebecca asked. "You look like a college student too. Where do you go?"

"Claremont McKenna, I'm a junior."

"Awesome! You're practically next door!"

Only if you discounted the city of Los Angeles seated between them...

-x-x-x-

Anzu would be the first to admit she wasn't the biggest fan of children, but Rebecca had quickly grown on her. Despite their differences in age and majors (Economics-Accounting versus Information Systems), they had very similar taste in books, music, movies, and political philosophy. Perhaps the biggest surprise was finding out that Rebecca was surprisingly fluent in Japanese, which she credited to spending a lot of time traveling to Japan with her grandfather when she was even younger.

It was evening by the time the police began slowly releasing them hours later. Thanks to Rebecca's company, the time more or less flew by.

Rebecca was released before her, and the officer that came to fetch her looked less than happy. The small blond girl had leaned over and given Anzu a hug before she was dragged off. Rebecca cursed loudly when she realized she had no pen on her person, and couldn't exchange email addresses with Anzu.

The policewoman that later came for Anzu was equally sullen-looking and brisk. She ordered Anzu to sit at the desk, then to read and sign the form placed in front of her.

"What is this?" Anzu asked the officer.

"You're being released on your recognizance. There's no bail, as long as you sign here and promise in writing that you will appear on your assigned court date." After checking the notes in a file, the officer continued. "Oh, and the Japanese consulate has already been notified of your arrest."

Sure enough, her legal name was printed on the form despite her earlier silence. Anzu sighed and picked the pen off the desk. There was no helping it. She was going to come out of this experience with a criminal record no matter what. Her only hope was the court date wouldn't conflict with any exam dates or paper deadlines. She marked the bottom of the form with her messy signature and pushed the paper away hastily.

The cop collected the form and pointed to a line of people heading into another room. "You can retrieve your belongings from there."

Jim was waiting by the door; he had already signed his release and gotten his stuff. He gave her a tight hug, asking if she was okay all the while. After her things were hastily shoved at her through the evidence window, she pulled on her peacoat. Her cellphone and wallet were also both intact, and there were a string of missed calls from her friends. They probably read about the chaos online.

"You could wait here and I'll drive the car over," Jim offered as he stared pointedly at her bare feet.

Anzu shuddered, but not from the cold this time. "No thanks, I've had enough of this place for a lifetime. I'll keep up, don't worry."

He remained skeptical though.

She took the initiative and led him out of the building by the arm. Outside, there were several TV reporters from local news channels filming for their evening broadcasts. One of the video camera made a pan over Anzu and Jim as they exited the building before returning to the anchor. A producer flagged down some other people, asking if they had been arrested as part of the riot and if they would consent to be interviewed. Both she and Jim ducked their heads and sped past the news crew as fast as they could.

Jim was looking up directions to the convention center on his smartphone, when someone tugged on Anzu's coat tail. She jumped in surprise, having been concentrating on avoiding pieces of glass and garbage on the sidewalk.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" Rebecca's devilish grin suggested otherwise.

"Rebecca, I thought you were already gone."

"Oh, I had Grandpa double back so I could bring you this." Rebecca thrust a plastic bag into Anzu's hands and added, "For you to wear home."

Anzu peered inside; it was a pair of flip-flops colored with a bright tropical flower design. "You didn't have to do this, thank you. How much were they? I'll pay you back."

"It is but a trifle offering, please take it," Rebecca replied firmly in Japanese.

Anzu should have refused more and she could already hear her mother's voice admonishing her. But in the end, her desire to not wander an unfamiliar city barefoot won out. She drew out the flip-flops and thanked Rebecca wholeheartedly. A car parked by the road honked and an middle-aged man waved to them out of the driver side window.

Rebecca sighed. "I gotta go. My mom's really mad about this whole thing. Call me sometime, Anzu!"

Anzu wanted to protest that she didn't have the teenager's phone number. But at the bottom of the shopping page was a piece of paper torn out of a CVS circular with a set of digits and an email address.

-x-x-x-

Fast forward to a year later, Anzu was on the verge of graduating and panicking over taking the CPA exam. Rebecca, on the other time, had neither employment nor a graduate degree work to occupy her time after graduating last year. Instead, she seemed to spend most of her time bouncing between her grandfather's ranch just outside Fresno and Claremont. So much that Anzu felt she was babysitting at times.

For spring break, Rebecca begged Anzu to spend the week at the ranch. Rebecca was going out of her mind with boredom, and Anzu decided to take pity on her.

Not that Anzu could afford to go with the rest of her college friends to Cancun anyway...

"No one will even call me for an job interview, and that's after I convince them that my application isn't a prank." Rebecca picked a smooth stone off the ground and skipped it four times across the stream.

Anzu's attempt was much less impressive; it immediately sank into the water. "God, Rebecca, you got your whole life ahead of you to work. Go have some fun or something."

"But I'm not just a kid, I'm a genius! A bored one."

Anzu winced. "Please don't hack the CUC (1) website and start a ridiculous scavenger hunt— again."

Rebecca stuck her tongue out. "Everyone else enjoyed it." Her next stone skipped five times.

"Why don't you travel a bit, or do some volunteer work?"

The blond teenager quieted suddenly. For a moment, Anzu didn't even realized Rebecca had fallen silent— she was too busy digging through the piles of rock on the ground in search of the perfect round stone. She had quickly grown used to the hush of this parched land outside of Death Valley. When she looked up, Rebecca was fidgeting with the bandana around her neck. It was a nervous gesture. As much as Anzu referred to her friend as a child teasingly, it was surprisingly easy to forget that Rebecca was still a young teenager. It always took these passing moments of vulnerability to remind Anzu.

She stood and took one of Rebecca's hand. "What is it?"

"My mom," Rebecca had yet to look up; Anzu knew what a touchy subject the older Hopkins woman could be. "They've tapped her to be part of the new UN special envoy on IDS rights, and they're focusing on Japan along with a few other countries first."

Anzu had watched as the diplomatic relations between her home country and the United States deteriorate in the last year. There were times when she feared she would be deported before she finished her degree. "Isn't that a bit of a conflict of interest for your mother?"

Adrianna Hopkins was currently a Minister at the American embassy in Japan.

"Mom's going to take it, that's not a problem, especially since she was screwed over for the ambassadorship. She's even resigned her post at the embassy already. But she asked me to go to Japan, she offered me a job as an IT technician in her new mission."

Anzu just blinked, waiting for the information to sink in fully. "Oh... Then what's the problem? Don't you want to spend more time with your mother?"

"I do," Rebecca focused on Anzu's hands, anxiously caressing each painted nail. "But I also heard back from Caltech, I got in."

"That's wonderful! It's your dream school!" Anzu knew how bad Rebecca had wanted it. The teenager only talked about the school at least once every time they met up.

But Rebecca didn't look so happy.

"I've wanted to go to Caltech for so long. I was already planning my Ditch Day stack when I was eight. I was so sure I would get in. Why wouldn't they take a child genius like me? It fucking crushed me when they rejected me for undergrad..."

This was the closest Anzu had seen Rebecca come to sulking. But this was something she could sympathize with Rebecca in: Claremont McKenna, though a wonderful school, had not been her top choice when applying.

"You can go to Caltech now," Anzu smiled; she hoped that thought would give Rebecca some measure of happiness.

Rebecca's expression became more miserable instead.

-x-x-x-

Anzu was unsure of the full story behind Mutou Akane, and it was rude to ask no matter how curious she was. As far as she could tell, Akane wasn't related to the Hopkins. Rebecca had simply referred to the woman as their long-term houseguest. But that was where it got weird, considering Akane never went into town unlike the Hopkin's actual live-in employee, Pete. She just stayed at the house and managed all the household chores from cooking to cleaning.

It was almost seemed like she was a prisoner.

For the first two days that Anzu stayed at the Hopkins ranch, most of their conversations was conducted in Japanese. Other than a few well-practiced phrases, Akane spoke little English. There were moments when Anzu felt so ashamed; her Japanese sounded rusty at times after four years speaking mostly just English.

Arthur Hopkins, Rebecca's grandfather and an anthropology professor at the University of San Francisco, showed up on the third night of Anzu's stay. But he hadn't come alone. Another middle-aged Asian man with short spiky gray hair and purple eyes walked into the foyer with Arthur. When Akane came to greet Rebecca's grandfather moments later, she clasped her hands over her mouth and choked back a sob.

"Father!"

Anzu quickly backed out into the kitchen— she sensed this was a private moment she was intruding on. She busied herself with dispensing the rice into bowls and setting the dinner table. The food had cooled by the time everyone else finally turned up.

"You must be Rebecca-chan's friend," the short Asian man grinned and the corner of his eyes crinkled with laugh lines. "What a beautiful young woman."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Mazaki Anzu." She bowed and held the pose for a second.

"I'm Mutou Sugoroku, a former colleague of Arthur's."

-x-x-x-

"Rebecca, we shouldn't be doing this." Anzu whispered to her headstrong friend.

The younger blond girl ignored Anzu and pressed her face harder against the moving panel cracked open to reveal the inside of Arthur Hopkin's study. "Oh, like you're not curious."

Dinner had been a low-key and friendly affair. Arthur and Sugoroku spent most of the time regaling everyone with tales of their expeditions and digs. It was then that Anzu learned both Sugoroku and Akane were also from her hometown of Domino City. But questions about what Sugoroku was doing lately or the city itself were masterfully deflected in favor of Anzu and Rebecca's school careers. Anzu had never met a professor that didn't eagerly prattle on for hours about their latest project.

Although eavesdropping was a new low for her, and she blamed Rebecca for that.

"And you're sure your grandfather doesn't know about this place?"

"I've been sneaking in here since I could walk and talk. He's never been any the wiser." Rebecca pressed her finger to her lips and pointed through the ray of light spilling in from the other room.

Anzu gave in. She bent over and leaned against the wall, which thankfully didn't collapse on her added weight. Judging by the size of the secret room, it wasn't meant to house two full-grown adults.

"Sugoroku, you know you're one of my greatest friends," Arthur began. "You should never hesitate to come to me if you need anything. What brings you to America?"

Sugoroku was dwarfed by the huge armchair he was seated in. He looked withered and tired against the plush leather. "I'm here to meet a contact that used to work for the Kaiba Corporation before it pulled out of the American market. I'm hoping they can shed some light on what's happening behind the scenes."

"And money? How are your war chests?"

"As well as I can manage in this economy and situation."

"I could make another donation to the cause, Sugoroku. It's the least I can do while you're off fighting the good fight for everyone else."

"You have already done more than I could have hoped for by taking in my daughter."

"You're welcome to stay with us too," Arthur leaned forward in his seat suddenly. "Akane misses you. She's a sweet girl, unlike my Adrianna. I can tell she's unhappy though, that being separated from you and her son might as well be killing her slowly."

Sugoroku looked down at his lap with an expression full of regret. "I couldn't let my daughter be taken by the Kaiba Corporation as well, not after Yuugi. I won't rest until I find him, even if I have to tear the company apart."

The realization hit like a bolt of lightning. Akane was a IDS refugee, who had fled Japan for her freedom. As immediate family members tended to share the summoner gene, there was an extremely high likelihood that Sugoroku and Akane's son were also IDS. Anzu looked down at Rebecca, who returned her gaze with wide eyes. They must have come to the same conclusions.

"I can't," Anzu shook her head. "We shouldn't be listening to this."

She left the hidden room via the secret passage Rebecca brought her in through. When she looked behind, she saw that Rebecca wasn't following. Anzu hid in her guestroom and spent the rest of the night doing another practice exam. Anything to distract from the guilt of sneaking around and violating Arthur and Sugoroku's privacy.

Rebecca came to her room around one in the morning. The younger girl was unusually quiet and remained silent even after entering. The window was cracked open, and a breeze blew in through the gap. Anzu finally pushed away her notes and sat up on the bed.

"I'm taking my mom's offer," murmured Rebecca.

Anzu blinked and mentally replayed the words in her head. She wasn't sure she had heard right. "What about your acceptance to Caltech?"

"I have a chance to help make a difference. I can't in good conscience choose to study and play pranks when I can be doing _something_."

Sugoroku was gone by breakfast the next morning. When Anzu came down, Akane sat alone at the table and stared at a photograph with dried tear tracks on her face. Anzu caught a glimpse of the picture's subject over the woman's shoulder: a young boy with wild hair of black, violet, and blond. She immediately tore her gaze away afterwards, feeling unbearably guilty.

She couldn't shake off the feeling she'd seen him somewhere once before.

(From long ago and far away).

-x-x-x-

It was another year before Anzu returned to the Hopkin's ranch outside of Fresno; almost a year since she'd seen Rebecca off to Japan at LAX. At first, the two of them talked often over the phone and emails. But communications with Rebecca grew less frequent in the recent months, and they seemed to have lost a lot of the open cadence that previously defined their friendship.

Arthur was taking a sabbatical in New York City and Akane was left all alone at the house. The woman begged Anzu to come down from LA, where she was currently working in city government, and keep her company for a weekend. Anzu took pity on the older woman and drove down in a rental car.

Akane greeted her at the door with a enthusiastic hug— a bit unexpected given how stoic she was on previous occasions. The smaller table in the kitchen was so laden down with food that it looked like it may collapse under the weight at any moment. It was a veritable feast of homecooked meals she hadn't eaten in years, including her favorite. Akane must have spent the whole day cooking.

Akane kept piling more food in her bowl as soon it got even half-empty.

Anzu pushed the bowl of rice away, "It was delicious, Akane-san, but I really can't eat another bite." She was going to have to loosen the button on her jeans at this rate.

The older woman stood abruptly. "Oh, I also made dessert!"

The thought alone was enough to trigger her gag reflex.

"Let's save that for later. Why I help you pack some of this away so Pete has leftovers for later?"

As they worked to squeeze the leftovers into a multitude of Tupperware containers, Akane asked about her work. Anzu would not be the first to admit that government work was not exactly fulfilling. After all this time, she was still baffled by how laid back LA was, even when it came to work ethics.

"I miss Japan," said Anzu as they stowed the last container in the refrigerator. "I never thought I would when I first came here, but I do."

"You're homesick," Akane patted her hand softly.

"Do you ever think about going back?" Anzu asked.

Looking out the large bay window, she smiled so sadly. "Some days, I think of little else, but I cannot."

"Is it because you're a summoner?" Anzu regretted the question as soon as it left her mouth— it was so incredibly inappropriate. 

Still, she couldn't help but be surprised when Akane shook her head. "Haven't the disposition for it, even remotely, was tested for it. But my honored father is, as well as my son, just like his father before him."

Anzu stared down at her hands folded in her lap. She wasn't sure what to say in response, but Akane saved her the trouble when she left the room. It was none of her business. Still Anzu wondered about the son and husband she had to leave behind. Were they under Kaiba Corp custodianship? Over sixty percent of Japan's population that were identified as IDS were perpetually guests of government prisons administered by Kaiba Corp. The rest were consigned to live in the ghettos that had popped up around major cities within the last five years or so. 

Anzu loaded the last of the plates into the dishwasher, contemplating how she should best apologise to Akane. Maybe it was best if she left. She gave an undignified squeak when she turned and found the older woman standing behind her. Without another word, Akane thrust a photograph into Anzu's hands. Frequent handling wore the edges and creased the paper.

Anzu recognized it as the photo she had glimpsed on her last visit.

"That's my son, Yuugi. He was fifteen when he first went into the program. Kaiba Corporations promised he would return after a year, but that never happened. We have no idea what's happened to him. My father-in-law still holds out hope of finding him one day. I am not so sure." Her words sounded hollow. It would be less heart-breaking if she outright cried instead.

She studied the boy in the photo. He looked like he couldn't have been out of elementary school yet, but a uniform that Anzu knew all too well said otherwise.

-x-x-x-

_"Uh, would you like to play?" His eyes were downcast. Despite having sat next to each other for the better part of the first week of classes, they hadn't spoken before. He seemed painfully shy and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable._

_"Sure," she tugged her chair closer to his desk and examined the contraption set up on the surface. "Mutou-kun, right?"_

_"Yuugi."_

_When he smiled, it lit his entire face. Suddenly, the alien-looking eyes and hair no longer seemed so strange. It made him look kind. A month later, he withdrew from school— him and a number of classmates she never heard from again._

-x-x-x-

Anzu's H1-B visa was due to expire next year. However, she made no plans to renew it. She gave her two weeks notice and booked a flight back to Japan instead.

Japan Customs forced her to entertain a very long and tedious exit interview before she was let back into the country. They grilled her on everything from her old college classes to her last job to the people she socialized with. She made no mention of either Mutou Sugoroku or Mutou Akane. 

They would hopefully never know any better.

Outside the arrival gate, Rebecca waited with a tall, stoic driver dressed in black. Was he also supposed to be a bodyguard? The far bigger shock was Rebecca herself. In a short one and a half year, Rebecca seemed to age half a decade. Her dress was conservative and as far from Californian as humanly possible, and her demeanor subdued.

"Welcome home, Anzu-san." The smile on Rebecca's lips was formal and strained.

Anzu wondered where the girl she had known went.

-x-x-x-

Her new job in Domino City's budgetary department wasn't all that different from her old one in LA. Her new apartment, though, managed to be twice as small. She made due with her menial job and sparse social life. Rebecca rarely called, too busy with her own life. Anzu couldn't bring herself to begrudge her young friend though. Adrianna Hopkins was too busy making headlines and waves with her UN-sponsored inquiries.

And Anzu watched, powerless, from the sideline as  _nothing_ changed. Skirting just outside her field of vision was the supposed-to-be invisible minority, marked by their heads bowed low and the bright red bands around their throats. Japan was at war with its own citizens and those that refused to be tested and registered fought back with bombs and sabotage. The government called them terrorists; the sympathetic IDS lobby called them radicals; and they called themselves resistance fighters.

There was a bulletin board of wanted posters between the main restrooms on the first floor of city hall. Anzu always found herself struck by how young they were.

Two months after returning to Japan, she experienced her first lockdown when a nearby KC facility was hit. Police cars patrolled the entire ward blaring the same message over and over again telling citizens to stay indoors and to mind the temporary curfew. 

Which was why the sudden knock on her front door put her on alert. She glanced through the peephole before throwing the door open to greet Rebecca— who lived two wards away and who really shouldn't be here of all places now of all times.

"Rebecca, what happened?"

Her skittishness, eyes and head darting from some unseen point down the hall and back to Anzu's face, was just one of many warning signs. Her clothes were disheveled, ripped shirt sleeve highlighting the large welting bruise high on her forearm.

"Anzu, I'm sorry to bother you at this hour but we have nowhere else to go."

"What?"

Rebecca kept going. "I never meant for this to happen, but we need your help. Please!"

"We?"

Anzu's answer came in the form of two injured figures barreling into sight. She recognized both, one being Sugoroku and the other as a face she'd studied on numerous occasions on wanted posters.

Jounouchi Katsuya, twenty-five years old, wanted for burglary, evading registration, trespassing, breaking and entering, assault and battery, illegal summoning, sabotage, and so many other offenses Anzu could not recount.

"You said she could be trusted," he growled at Rebecca.

"She is trustworthy!" Rebecca turned pleading eyes at Anzu again. "Please, help us. We just need somewhere to lay low for a bit. We'll be out of here as soon as the pressure lets up."

Anzu didn't know what she was thinking. If she was even thinking at all. At the very least, she should have asked more questions. Instead she just acted, by opening her door wider and stepping back to let the three of them in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Claremont University Consortium (CUC) is the centralized services and resources shared by all schools in the Claremont College group (which consist of Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer for undergraduate; and Claremont Graduate University and the Keck Graduate Institute at the graduate level).
> 
> I needed a break from my Sherlock fics, so I'm starting to work on finishing this story sparingly. Please also note that adjustments were made to the timeline as set forth in the first two chapters.
> 
> Up next time, Seto's Interlude. Hopefully won't take too long before I post again.


	12. Seto's Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seto can't save everyone, nor does he pretend he will. He can only help the ones that matter most.

_In the days before Japan's IDS population was legally relegated to second class citizenship, the most abundant source of research subjects were orphans. All wards of the state were tested as soon as they entered the system— young Higata Seto and Mokuba were no different. The officials never told you what your test results were, but sometimes children could tell from the looks they received. But more often was the case where an orphan would be there one day and then gone the next._

_Such was the case with Mokuba._

_They'd been at that orphanage for about seven months when it happened._

_When Seto turned over in bed and saw the empty one next to his, he couldn't decide what he hated most: the world, his relatives, or just his rotten luck. All he was told was that Mokuba had been moved to a more suitable facility._

_Seto may have been ten, but he wasn't stupid._

-x-x-x-

The hotel's rooftop bar was nearly empty that Wednesday night. A pianist serenaded the few paying customers. Her music and the tumbler of cognac Seto was nursing birthed an unexpected bout of nostalgia. The temptation to reach under his shirt and pull out the locket resting close to his heart was overwhelming. Meanwhile, he continued to ignore the cell phone in his jacket buzzing for the sixth time in ten minutes, just as he had done for the last three hours.  
  
Someone slid into the barstool next to him, brushing against his left shoulder. The movement was meant to be suggestive, but it just seemed awkward to him.  
  
A voluptuous blond woman with a pixie cut leaned forward and spouted her words in a high falsetto. "Hey there, good looking. Drinking alone tonight?"  
  
Seto tried not to roll his eyes. It wasn't exactly the best come-on he had ever heard.  
  
She crossed her long shapely legs, causing the little black dress to ride up her thighs a bit. "Aren't you going to buy me a drink, handsome?" She winked.  
  
Seto flagged down the bartender and ordered a bottle of Sapporo Yebisu Black. Her amber eyes lit up when she heard— it was her favorite after all. Her attention honed in on the bartender as he popped off the bottle cap. She grabbed for the beer before the bottle even settled on the coaster.  
  
Seto went back to his drink and allowed her a few moments to relish hers. He hid a smirk behind his glass when he realized she was whispering sweet nothings to the bottle.   
  
"Are you in town for business?" he asked after another few moments. Meanwhile, the pianist in the background had seamlessly transitioned into a new song: _Moon River_. The lack of a vocal accompaniment only further emphasized the forlorn notes.  
  
She'd drank half the bottle by the time she put it back down again. "How did you know?" She flashed him a toothy smile.  
  
"I've never seen you here before. What is it that you do?"  
  
Her grin widened a fraction as she leaned in. "I guess you could say I'm in account acquisition."  
  
He snorted, but didn't push her away when she propped one arm on his shoulder and slid closer. On the mirrored wall of the liquor shelf, Seto could see the man that had been tailing him all night. The bodyguard was trying to look nonchalant behind a booth, but ultimately out of place in the average salaryman's attire. He slid one arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She froze under his touch.  
  
Seto pressed his lips to her ears and said, "Why don't we take our conversation somewhere more private?" A wisp of blond hair brushed against his nose, but he felt nothing.  
  
She nodded stiffly— fake flirtatious smile still fixed in place— but her rough and calloused hand cupped around the back of his neck squeezed ever so slightly.

-x-x-x-

_After besting Kaiba Gozaburo in a chess match, Seto was officially adopted into the Kaiba family at the age of ten. It would be a few years before he proved himself worthy enough to be entrusted with a piece of the empire. But neither Gozaburo nor Noah ever let him into a position of any actual power._

_They were both probably afraid that he would try to overtake them one day._   
  
_But as long as they were convinced his allegiance was to power and wealth, he would be free to pursue his goal in secret— to locate his little brother._   
  
_When Seto was fifteen, he had himself retested. By what the doctor deemed a fluke mutation, the genetic sequence that should have made him an IDS like Mokuba was off by one pair. Rightfully, he should have been an IDS as well._

-x-x-x-

Their journey took them only one floor down to the hotel's largest suite. As the younger son of the Kaiba Empire, he still had appearances to keep. Even if he seemingly took random women to bed every month or so.

  
He kept one arm firmly planted around her waist the entire way. His tail made no effort to follow them out of the bar, and he saw no signs of anyone trailing them when he pretended to momentarily fumble with his key card at the front door.  
  
The usual setup with complimentary champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries was waiting inside. He gave both a wide breadth. There was rarely anything to celebrate.  
  
As soon as they were on the other side of the door, she threw off his arm and sprinted away. Seto did roll his eyes this time. Unlike her, he took the time to slide out of his loafers first. She was lying face down on the king-sized bed. At least her feet were still dangling off the edge. He hated thinking about all the disgusting things she tracked into bed.  
  
"Take off your damn shoes first," he snarled and loosened his tie.  
  
She flopped over onto her back. "Sorry Kaiba, the bed was calling to me. Plus you were being extra creepy today. Did we really need to hug like that the entire way?" She shuddered for added effect.  
  
"I had a tail today, so I needed to make it look convincing. And turn off that thing— you look ridiculous."  
  
"Right," she pulled a holo-emitter device from inside the folds of her dress and turned it off. The image flickered off and Jounouchi now stood in her place. "I thought Gozaburo stopped having people follow you—" The voice he spoke with was still high and female until he hit the device strapped around his throat and finished the sentence in his usual voice. "Years ago."  
  
Seto shoved his hands into his pockets and focused on the glimmering Domino skyline outside. "Things have changed."

-x-x-x-

_His monthly meetings with Jounouchi were established because he couldn't be seen running around with the rest of the group. It would jeopardized his position with Gozaburo and Noah— not that Noah ever trusted him about anything. Yet, Seto needed to stay informed about their movements and plans. Some of which even demanded his intervention to be successful._   
  
_Seto did this, because he would do just about anything for Mokuba._   
  
_But why Jounouchi of all people? Of all the "resistance fighters" in Sugoroku's merry little band, Seto had technically known Jounouchi the longest. If he remembered correctly, they had known each other for close to six years now._   
  
_They didn't meet face-to-face until the second year. They spent the first year playing an elaborate game of cat and mouse across most of southern Japan. Even as Seto continued to improve his security systems by leaps and bounds, Jounouchi and his gang at that time still managed to con their way into the warehouses and rob Seto's wares._   
  
_He eventually figured out the pattern of which warehouses they hit. Seto and a contingent of armed guards laid in ambush. Despite that, Jounouchi still got away. But Seto had seen the punk's face, and it was easy to track him through Kujaku Mai, who was and still is Jounouchi's fence._   
  
_Seto was a problem solver. Noah may jealously guard access to his genetic research department, but Seto knew all the ins and outs of the security protocols he helped implement. If Seto could not move against his older brother with that knowledge, he would find someone to do it in his stead. Jounouchi Katsuya, street rat he may be, was one of the best to cross swords with Noah._   
  
_The bar that Seto went into had no formal name; but the people who frequented the establishment called it the "harpy's den." He went in still clad in his school uniform and a fake pair of glasses. It was often the only disguise he really needed to move around in public. Gozaburo and Noah liked to keep him out of the limelight as much as possible back then._   
  
_He put down Jounouchi's mugshot from a juvenile arrest made when he was twelve. "I'm looking for this boy."_   
  
_Mai glanced at the photo briefly before stating, "I've never seen him before."_   
  
_"Look harder," he growled and thrust the photo toward her face._   
  
_Mai leaned forward over the bar. Her long hair spilled over her shoulders and obscured the view of her impressive rack. "I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but you're a far way from home, little boy. I suggest you run home to Mommy while you still can."_   
  
_Kaiba Seto would not be cowed, even at the age of sixteen._   
  
_He snatched his photo and marched toward a booth in the back of the bar. He sat with his arms crossed over his chest and feet propped up on the table, daring anyone to approach him. The other patrons stared and Mai simply ignored him. He waited hours until he was kicked out by Mai, when she declared she was closing early with a heavy scowl on her face._   
  
_So he came back the next day, and then the day after that._   
  
_By the end of the week, the other regulars had gotten used to his presence there. They muttered all sorts of foul things loudly as he came in each day. Some even tried to approach him and attempted to bribe him with promises of a drink, but Seto glared at them until they tired and went away. Mai, on the other hand, grew more agitated with each day that he visited._   
  
_On his ninth or tenth visit, the bar was completely empty except for her. She locked the door from the inside as soon as he took a seat at his usual booth. Without a word, she then vanished into the back room. Seto remained alert, but there was nothing he could do until someone approached him or attacked him. Minutes passed in complete quiet. After several more, he pulled out a book from his schoolbag and started reading._   
  
_It was another ten minutes before someone finally emerged from the back room and slid into the booth across from Seto. The teenage boy was around his age, with blond hair and light brown eyes. That was where the resemblance with the picture of twelve-year-old Jounouchi Katsuya ended. Jounouchi at age 16 was broad-shouldered and somewhat muscular— a fighter's physique. The baby fat was gone._   
  
_"You're one persistent asshole," Jounouchi cracked his knuckles as he spoke._   
  
_Seto supposed he was to be intimidated. "Are you Jounouchi Katsuya?"_   
  
_He shrugged. "Depends on who's asking."_   
  
_"I have a business proposition for you."_   
  
_"Look, I don't know who you are, but if you're just looking for a cheap thrill, you're in way over your head, kid."_

_"My name is Seto," he slipped off his glasses and folded them. "Kaiba Seto."_   
  
_He wasn't sure where Jounouchi produced the butterfly knife from when the other boy lunged over the table between them. But Seto was a faster draw; he pressed the cold muzzle of his formerly concealed gun against Jounouchi's throat. The blade froze in mid-air, just inches from plunging its tip into Seto's neck._   
  
_"Do you think you'll solve anything by killing me?" Seto asked. "The police and my family would hunt you like an animal."_   
  
_"It'd make me feel better," snarled Jounouchi. His seething rage made apparent by the death glare and flared nostrils._   
  
_Seto wrenched the knife away with his free hand and swung the hinges closed. "Sit down, I came here to talk."_   
  
_"I have nothing to say to scum like you."_   
  
_"I... want to hire you for a job."_   
  
_Jounouchi stared at him first, before throwing his head back in uproarious laughter. "This is the stupidest trap ever. I thought you were supposed to be some sort of child prodigy. Save yourself the embarrassment and just shoot me now."_   
  
_Seto kept the gun trained on the other boy, while tapping the fingers of his free hand against the tabletop. He didn't really have any intention of shooting Jounouchi, but that never-ending derisive laughter was making a compelling case otherwise. There were tears at the corner of Jounouchi's eyes by the time the laughter subsided. The residuals racked his body as he tried to regain his composure._   
  
_"Are you done yet?" Seto was supposed to have dinner with Noah and Gozaburo soon; they were becoming concerned about his repeated absence over the last week._   
  
_"You do know you sound ridiculous looking to 'hire' me when you're a Kaiba," Jounouchi leaned in, apparently no longer worried about being shot. "I rob from the Kaibas for a living."_   
  
_"I'm well aware. It's how I found you, and you must know that I'm not a Kaiba by blood."_   
  
_Seto's adoption was not a fact that Gozaburo necessarily tried to hide from the world, but most people and the media knew better than to make any sort of fuss about it. In order to enter the Kaiba household, he knew he'd have to give up everything in connection with his past and birth parents. Gozaburo did not disappoint in that department and had sealed all public records of Higata Seto. All that remained of Seto's previous life was..._   
  
_He pocketed the gun again, trusting Jounouchi not to run now. He reached for the locket underneath his shirt, but briefly hesitated as his fingers closed around it. The absence of its weight against his skin always felt heart-wrenching. Dangling from his hand, Seto offered him the locket._

_Seto needed a few seconds to collect himself. Separation from his most treasured possession was not painful like the lopping off of a limb, but the dull ache of a phantom limb afterwards. "I want your help finding someone: my little brother."_

-x-x-x-

"So you say this'll quadruple the battery life on our emitters? Cool!"

Seto's hand shook and the tiny processor chip between tweezers fell to the carpeted floor. He turned in his seat and glared at the other man. Jounouchi looked away and toward the movie he'd ordered on the large HD television hanging on the wall. A room service cart sat next to the bed and half-eaten food littered its surface.  
  
He retrieved the chip from the floor and slotted it into the motherboard. When he powered the emitter up, there was a small beep as it posted. The diagnostic program on his laptop estimated an extended battery life and decreased processor load. He left the device on. It needed to fully discharge before they could accurately gauge how long it was going to last in the field.  
  
In the background, the movie devolved into a cacophony of explosions and gunfire.  
  
Seto would never admit it out loud, but he was envious of Jounouchi in some ways. Jounouchi got to openly fight the enemy; he got to confront them head on. Seto, on the other hand, was trapped in his life of duplicity, living alongside the very people he plotted to bring down. Even though he was so close to power, he was still powerless to effect any change; that was either ironic or just plain tragic.  
  
But he had come to terms with his role in this drama — a necessary one. Because without Seto to dismantle the war machine built by Gozaburo, it would be unstoppable.   
  
After scrolling through a few more lines of programming, he pushed out his chair and stood. On his way over to the bed, he kicked one of Jounouchi's sneakers aside. When he approached the edge of the bed, Jounouchi pulled one of the small bottles of whiskey from the mini-bar. The blond shook the bottle and scooted over on the bed to make room for him. Seto didn't need any further invitation; he climbed on and snatched the whiskey out of Jounouchi's hand. On television, the movie was racing through the climax: the protagonist put a bullet right between the villain's eyes.

Seto took a swig from the bottle as the credits rolled. "How are the clones doing?"

Jounouchi scrunched his nose in disgust. "We prefer not to call them that. They're human, ya know. They're doing fine, even thinking about getting real names. Mind if I get another movie?"

It wasn't worth arguing semantics with Jounouchi. Seto would also argue that it wasn't wise to let the clones get so much insight into their operations so quickly, but they would just be rehashing the same argument from last month. He had yet to meet the clones in person; Ryou had sent them on recon when Seto came to issue a holo-emitter to Anzu. Seto's more cynical side wanted to point out how useless a maneuver that was, for the clones must already know about him if they could indeed read thoughts.

Seto shrugged. "Do what you like; it's on the company's dime in the end."

"Yeah, I'm sure your Pops and Noah-onii-san are happy to front these charges."

"As long as they think I'm too busy whoring around to run a shadow campaign against them, I'll have room to actually work."

Jounouchi snorted, and then giggled. "Just like Batman."  
  
Seto rolled his eyes. But it was an appropriate analogy. "What about our side project? Any news on that front?" he asked.

-x-x-x-

_No one but Jounouchi knew the real reason why Seto offered his services to the rebels opposing his family. The others probably thought he was using them as just pawns to take control of the company from under his father and brother. But they would trust him as long as Jounouchi vouched for him. Seto preferred this arrangement— his secrets were his own to keep. The only reason Jounouchi knew was because he sought something similar._   
  
_"Your little brother, really?" then-sixteen-year-old Jounouchi raised one eyebrow in question. "Shouldn't you get a private eye or something for that?"_   
  
_Seto just hoped this wouldn't backfire on him. "He's in the internment system."_   
  
_Jounouchi's eyes widened. "You mean he's an IDS?"_   
  
_The scenario branched off into three possible conclusions from there on: one, Jounouchi wouldn't believe him and see nothing but a trap meant to ensnare him; two, Jounouchi believed him and agreed to help for whatever price; or three, Jounouchi believed him, but thought Seto's secret to be worth far more sold to a third party. He could easily handle numbers one and two. But to resolve the danger posed by number three, Seto would have to eliminate the other boy._

_It was impossible to ignore the gun pressed against his hip._

_Jounouchi studied the photo inside the locket, but Seto had no idea what he was thinking. So Seto continued as calmly as he could manage, "I can't pay you with cash until after you find him. It's too easy to track in the meanwhile. But I can offer information about shipping schedules and routes. The parts will sell on the black market for a good price."_   
  
_"You're a Kaiba, can't you get him yourself?" Jounouchi finally looked up again._   
  
_"Noah jealously guards his authority over the bio research department. I—" Seto licked his lips. "It would raise too much suspicion for me to act. I need someone to act as my hands."_

_"And you think that person should be me?"_

_Seto had done his research. He always did. He knew better to go into negotiation without leverage. He had almost missed it while combing through Jounouchi's background. Jounouchi's mother had done everything in her power to dissociate herself from her previous marriage. What Seto hadn't had the chance to do was gauge Jounouchi's level of affection for the girl. They had been separated for the last seven years. Maybe Jounouchi didn't even remember her._

_He held the photo of a young auburn-haired girl up to Jounouchi's gaze._   
  
_But from how Jounouchi's fists clenched and eyes narrowed, there was definitely some kind of emotion there. After several more seconds, he reached for the photo and Seto let him take it._   
  
_Seto continued, "Your sister is also in the system. She is close in age to my brother. If you help me, you might find her too. You want that, don't you?"_   
  
_Jounouchi's hand shook and his grip crinkled the corner of Kawai Shizuka's picture. "It's a deal."_

-x-x-x-

A year ago, they would have left the hotel by now. But over time, the stays became longer and longer, until neither of them left until after sunrise. The first time it happened, Jounouchi had fallen asleep on the bed while Seto used the bathroom. As he stood at the foot of the bed, the sound of Jounouchi's snoring filled the suite and Seto with annoyance. He was about to give the blond a rude awakening, when Jounouchi flopped onto his back. Jounouchi's shirt bunched and rolled up, revealing a patchwork of discolored bruises and a large gauze square dotted with dried blood. Seto's anger subsided because all he could see was the dark circles under Jounouchi's closed eyes and the crooked nose still in the midst of healing.

He let Jounouchi rest through the night— without fearing capture or reprisal. And Seto stayed as well, because he couldn't just leave a knocked-out-cold Jounouchi alone at a hotel that his family frequented.

In time, it became their retreat from the world outside. Jounouchi had a secure roof over his head for one night, and Seto could focus on the work he really cared about without someone always watching over his shoulders.

And sometimes, they would get drunk together and watch TV until they eventually drifted to sleep next to one another.

Halfway through tonight's second movie, Jounouchi flopped over on his side and had gone quiet. That had been almost an hour ago. Seto could only assume he had long fallen asleep. Now the credits were rolling to a gentle orchestral score as Seto browsed through his corporate email account. With the fiscal year soon drawing to a close, annual reports were flooding in from various departments and subsidiary companies. Most troubling of all were the advances Noah's department had made in a portable IDS scanner. While still years from being a workable prototype, Seto had no doubts this was what his brother would be touting for this conference.

"Hey, Kaiba."

Seto flinched in surprise. Jounouchi's back was still turned towards him, so he couldn't see his face. "Yes, Jounouchi?"

There was no immediate reply. It wouldn't be the first time that Jounouchi talked in his sleep. Seto reached for the remote and turned off the television, which had cycled back to the pay-per-view menu.

"What do you think happened to Mai?"

Seto had heard the gist of what happened from Rebecca, who heard it from Ryou. People like Mai did not ever see the likes of a public trial. After KC security classified her as a high priority threat, she was indefinitely detained and vanished into the depths of the system far beyond the reach of Seto's security clearance. Plainly stated, he had no idea where or how Kujaku Mai was.

"She's alive, isn't that enough?" he asked.

Jounouchi sat up and swung around so fast that he nearly knocked Seto out of the bed. "Yuugi, Yami, Bakura, they all told us stories about what it was like on the inside. But it's what they don't say that's the scary part. Now because of me, Mai— You can't possibly understand how I feel."

He was right, of course. Seto didn't understand. He had no one left to lose after Mokuba was taken. And in his world, collateral damage was always going to be a given— acceptable losses.

He lowered his gaze to where Jounouchi's hands fisted the duvet.

(But that wasn't really true either, was it?)

"The world grows more dangerous with every passing day, Jounouchi. We can't afford to lose," he looked straight into the other man's eyes before adding, "Not for Mokuba or Shizuka's sake."

"You'll keep looking for them, right? All three of them, your brother, my sister, Mai?"

"Until my dying breath," Seto promised solemnly.

Jounouchi gave a small huff of nervous laughter. "Hopefully it won't come to that. We'd be screwed without your help."

Seto answered with a hesitant grin. It was...nice to have his efforts acknowledged in this war too.

-x-x-x-

_Even before meeting Jounouchi, Seto's task had always clear to him: to bring down the Kaiba Corporation from within._

_And there was never any question of whether or not Seto would enter the family business. By the time he was fourteen, he had his own office on a middle-management level and knew his way around various departments and its people like the back of his hand. His talent for all things electronic placed him in the unique position to one day overtake the tech division. Had the world not been held so captive to xenomorphs and IDS, he might have led a new technological revolution. No, best not to think about the what ifs. Besides, it would be a good many years before Gozaburo would let him be in charge of anything._

_Being involved in the company from such an early age afforded him another type of advantage. While he walked the halls with impunity, few took him seriously as any kind of threat to either their position or the company. With no one watching over his shoulder, he memorized security plans, building blueprints, and shipping schedules— information he traded to Jounouchi in exchange for favors. When talk of a possible mole inside the company finally surfaced, Seto planted false leads or fabricated evidence against those who might one day try to stand in his way._

_For his eighteenth birthday, he was getting a rare look inside one of the bio lab facilities. Gozaburo was not present as he was on business in Germany. But Noah and the lab director, one nebulously off-putting Dr. Akunadin Ishtar, served as his concerned and ever-vigilant guides. As expected, Seto was never allowed wander off on his own or deviate from their meticulously plotted route._

_Something huge lied beyond those heavily fortified doors— something that Noah didn't want the world to know about. Seto intended to find out exactly what it was._

_Today would be a coordinated strike between him and Jounouchi (and whoever was in his motley crew of the day). See the thing about secret facilities is that they didn't usually have very much security beyond the automated sort. Only a few people were supposed to know about it; and the more people that worked a given location, the greater chance of a security leak. By the time security realized they had been hit, Seto counted on the few security personnel to be more concerned with protecting the touring VIPs than chasing after the intruders. But the virus that he previously planted in the site's intranet would hopefully buy Jounouchi's group enough time to get in, retrieve the information, and get out before anyone noticed. No one would be any the wiser._

_Seto glanced down at his wristwatch. Just five more minutes..._

_The tour continued with a look at the medical research lab. After all, Kaiba Corp's research was not completely without merit. The sudden need for effective means of studying both xenos and IDS had ushered in numerous innovations that could be applied to other areas. For one, advances in gene therapy were being made in leaps and bounds in mere months— their ever-increasing effectiveness might soon herald an era where people could be made resistant to cancer and other terminal diseases._

_As the clock approached the half-hour mark, Seto dared to hope everything had gone according to plan. Jounouchi should be leaving any moment now. But as they rounded the next corner, a scientist flanked by several security personnel appeared in their path. The scientist edged up to Akunadin and whispered something in his ear._

_"Noah-sama, subject 21 has gone missing." Akunadin spoke as quietly as possible, but there was no way Seto wasn't going to hear him._

_"What?" Noah snapped before taking off at a speed that belied his limping leg. Seto had to jog to keep up with his older brother, and the guards followed swiftly at their heel. No one tried to stop him when they crossed over the red boundaries marking the areas limited to "authorized personnel only."_

_Down three stretches of hallway and around two corners, they skidded to a stop in front of a room whose door was barely hanging onto the frame. On the frame were scorch marks left behind by three small explosive devices— ones Seto had made for Jounouchi several months ago. Noah ran straight into the empty room with an angry and bewildered expression._

_From the doorway, he could take in the whole of its padded interior. The dimensions were small with barely any space left to stand after accounting for the cot pushed up against the back wall and the toilet partially obscured by a low partition. Still, there was nowhere to hide from the two security cameras mounted near the ceiling. He did a double-take back toward the cot, where cut leather restraints dangled from the metal frame. Seto recognized the room for what it was: a prison cell._

_Was this the reason for all that security that Seto had to circumvent? His blood ran cold at all the possible implications._

_"How is this possible?" Noah snapped._

_"We don't know. He's just gone," someone with security answered from outside the room._

_"He can't have vanished into thin air. He's under constant video surveillance. He has a tracker embedded in him, doesn't he? Use that to find him!"_

_The guard at the head of the group spoke up, "Something's wrong with the system. It's offline."_

_"I don't care how you do it. Find him. Now." Noah barked._

_"Noah, what is going on?" Seto demanded._

_His brother turned and looked straight at him. Seto almost got the feeling that Noah was finally seeing him for the first time. Noah's jaw and his hand wrapped around his cane tightened simultaneously. But he quickly stowed whatever it was away behind a blank mask of control._

_He pointed to an arbitrary person in the crowd and declared, "You, take my brother to the ops room and guard him with your life. No one leaves the grounds until the subject is found, understood?"_

_"But I can help," Seto protested._

_"It's for your safety, Seto," Noah cooed and Seto had to clamp down on the urge to make a face. "There are many dangerous xenos kept here. You don't want to run into them if they've breached containment."_

_"Seto-sama, this way please," the guard, who had initially blanched when given his assignment, stepped in front of him to prevent him from following Noah._

_Laughter bubbled up from under Seto's diaphragm. This man had a lot to learn about effecting an air of authority, and he was clearly in the wrong line of work. But the situation was far too dire. Jounouchi had clearly gone in over his own head. Noah was never going to allow him to leave the facility alive, and Jounouchi, the damn idiot, was never going to leave this rescued captive behind either. Death would be preferable, considering what might come to light in interrogation if Jounouchi was taken alive._

_His breathing sped up. Unacceptable._

_Seto extended a hand toward the nervous guard assigned to him and demanded, "Give me your gun."_

_"But Seto-sama—" the guard started._

_"Give. Me. Your. Gun." Seto grounded out through gritted teeth, causing the other man to pale further._

_When the guard made no move to obey, Seto lunged forward and stole the firearm straight from its holster. But as he jostled him, Seto also managed to palm the ID card hanging off his belt. The other man squeaked in surprise, before he managed to gather his wits and dove at Seto. Seto raised the muzzle and aimed at the guard, who threw his hands into the air and froze in mid-dive._

_"I don't have time for this," he sneered. "I'm going to find this intruder and fix my brother's mess. Go do your job and stay out of my way, understand?"_

_The guard nodded slowly, palms still suspended in a gesture of capitulation._

_"Good."_

_Seto turned and headed in the direction of a specific corridor that would lead to a defunct service exit. That had been the escape route they planned on, but now that alarms had been raised... It was no longer a feasible one. In a grid-by-grid search of the facilities, it was likely to be one of the first areas investigated. His only chance was to head off Jounouchi and company before they got there._

_Hallway after hallway of identical looking walls blurred together in a sickly beige. Seto doubled back several times to avoid other security personnel searching the area— room by room. Just as he began to despair he might never find Jounouchi, the blond man and two— no, three other people came barreling around a corner. There was someone draped over Jounouchi's back. The long white hair made it impossible to distinguish gender at first glance, the face half-hidden by Jounouchi's broad shoulder. From somewhere further down the hallway came the sound of pursuing footsteps._

_Seto swiped his stolen ID over the card reader on the nearest door. "Get in now," he hissed through his teeth._

_Jounouchi immediately ducked into the open lab without any further prompting. The other two each gave Seto long suspicious looks, but their trust in Jounouchi ultimately won them over. Or the sound of approaching footsteps soon convinced them._

_There was a quiet click as the magnetic locking mechanism re-engaged behind them. With one ear still pressed against the metal of the door, Seto waited with bated breath for the patrol to pass. Confusion was audible from the other side, but it was short-lived as the guards quickly moved on in their search. Still, he waited a few more beats before pushing away from the door._

_The lab was otherwise empty, except for several small xenos locked in cages. Their beady eyes tracked Seto around the room as he checked for any prying eyes or ears. The other three swarmed around whomever they had rescued from that prison. Jounouchi pulled away from the group and started rifling through drawers and cabinets. The other brown-haired man that stood guard over them was Honda Hiroto, a long-time partner of Jounouchi's that Seto had never officially met. The white-haired woman tenderly taking the unconscious man's pulse, on the other hand, was not someone Seto recognized._

_He raised his gun and aimed it at Jounouchi's back._

_Honda leapt to Jounouchi's defense, "Put the gun down now," he barked._

_Seto struggled to get his racing heart and breath under control. "This wasn't the plan, Jounouchi." He pointed the muzzle at the unconscious man as he spoke. The woman tensed and immediately placed herself in the line of fire._

_"Stop being a dick and put down the gun, Kaiba." Jounouchi shot back as he shoved vials of medicine into his pockets. Those particular ones had little to no street value, but Jounouchi needed to learn some sort of lesson after this mess._

_If any of them got out of this alive._

_Seto continued, "What are you thinking? You jeopardized the entire mission by taking him."_

_"I'm doing what needs to be done."_

_Before Seto could argue further, Honda interrupted, "Wait, wait! Kaiba Seto of all people is your inside source? Are you kidding me, Jounouchi? This has to be a trick. You can't trust a Kaiba."_

_"You wouldn't be here today if not for me," Seto snarled._

_"Exactly."_

_"Kids, kids," Jounouchi clapped his hands and Seto wanted to punch him— he wasn't a fucking dog. "We're all on the same side here. What did you expect me to do, Kaiba? Leave him to the mercy of your company?"_

_"He'll only slow you down. You can't take him."_

_In response to Seto's words, she tightened her hold around the man._

_"I'm not leaving him behind. Do you have any idea what he is? He's—"_

_"I'm not stupid, Jounouchi. I saw his cell. I know exactly what he is. But by abducting him—"_

_"Freeing him!" Jounouchi's hands finally stilled as he shouted._

_Reasoning with Jounouchi was impossible sometimes. It was like ramming his head repeatedly against a wall. "You've alerted Noah to your presence here. You don't have time to waste. Noah just wants him back. If you leave him—"_

_"No, over my dead body."_

_"You have to!" With his heartbeat pounding impossibly loud in his ear and his blood now flowing like ice water through his veins, Seto screamed back. "You can't save everybody!"_

_"I'm still going to try!"_

_Seto's chest heaved up and down with every ragged breath. He wanted to grab Jounouchi and shake some goddamn sense into him. Jounouchi stood tall with his arms folded over his chest and so full of stupid, stupid pride. Honda's incredulous gaze bounced back and forth between himself and Jounouchi as his slack jaw mouth dangled in mid-air. From his slouched position against the lab table, the unconscious man moaned weakly._

_"I think Ryou's starting to come to," the woman said softly as she tenderly brushed the hair back from his face._

_Seto would have to be blind to not see the similarity in their facial features now, from the set of their cheekbones to the shape of their noses. "You're family," he muttered in disbelief._

_She hesitated before replying, "He's my little brother."_

_Seto stared. "You're unlikely to make it out of here on your own." He contemplated adding the modifier of "alive", but that sounded unnecessarily melodramatic._

_"Kaiba, please, help us get him out of here. He doesn't deserve what Noah has been doing to him? No one does." Jounouchi stepped closer. "Think about Moku—"_

_"Don't," Seto snapped. Jounouchi may trust these people, but he didn't know any of them._

_"Right, sorry." At least he had the decency to look contrite afterwards._

_"Kaiba-san, I appreciate what a huge risk it is for you to help us, but I'm not leaving Ryou. I've searched too long to let this opportunity slip through my fingers." She turned her back to him and began fussing over her unconscious brother again._

_"And we don't leave anyone behind. The door is that way, feel free to use it any time." Honda piped up._   
  
_Looking over at Jounouchi, Seto could see he echoed the sentiment entirely._

_"If we don't even try, what's the point of any of this?" Jounouchi asked. Both he and a few caged xenos stared at Seto with the same focused gaze._

_There was some tiny part tempted to leave them to their fates, but there was an even louder and more worrying part of him that thought he could turn them in to his own advantage. But could he do it— pave his way with the bodies of the "expendables"? Just like Gozaburo did? Just like Noah was doing? The answer came easily enough._

_He readjusted his grip on the gun and checked to make sure the magazine was full. "You won't be able to get away via the original escape route. There's a hallway in the basement that runs alongside some old steam tunnels. It'll be your best bet."_

_"Great, lead the way," Jounouchi stuck out a hand and added. "Give me the gun first."_

_"Why?"_

_Jounouchi sighed like Seto was the slow one. "You can't just lead us around the facility like this. We'll pretend you're our hostage or whatever. There's no need to blow your cover yet."_

_Seto hesitated, despite Jounouchi having a good point. He fought down every well-honed survival instinct that objected to the idea of being at the wrong end of a loaded gun. As he put the piece down on the lab table for Jounouchi, the woman helped load Ryou onto Honda's back._

_"Okay, let's go." Jounouchi declared._

_On their way out of the lab, motion in the corner of Seto's vision caught his attention. With the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly standing on their ends, he stopped and found himself momentarily staring at his own shadow. He shook his head and wondered if the pressure was finally getting to him._

_They walked the hallway in single file with Honda and his burden at the head of their procession. Jounouchi was a firm presence to his rear at all times. But as they neared their destination, it became obvious that Ryou would regain consciousness sooner rather than later. Honda yelped in surprise when a particularly vicious-looking slap landed across the back of his neck, causing his to drop Ryou._

_"Jounouchi," he hissed as he lunged forward to catch the falling man. Ryou's sister managed to grab an arm before he slid completely to the floor._

_Jounouchi darted past him to check the door a few feet down the hall and then waved Seto over. Together, the four of them managed to shuffle the mass of thrashing limbs into the utility closet._

_Ryou's movements were still sluggish and uncoordinated, as whatever drug was still not cleared out of his system. He made a swiping motion, as if he was trying to claw at Seto's face, but his hand fell limply on the downstroke. "No. No. I don't want to. Stop. Please," he mewed with all the strength of a newborn kitten. His glassy glaze ambled across the room and its occupants, unable to focus on a single point for more than a few seconds._

_"Hey, hey, calm down, we're trying to help you," said Jounouchi, which might have proven more soothing if he wasn't also waving a gun around at the same time._

_"No, let me go!"_

_She pushed them away and crowded the struggling man into the wall. She grabbed each arm and firmly pinned them to his side before speaking, "Ryou, we're here to help you. We're on your side?"_

_"Amane?"_

_"Yeah, it's me. I came to rescue you. We'll get you out of here." She patted his hair gently._

_Ryou blinked slowly a few times before understanding finally sank in like a thick fog. "Yes, out," he quietly muttered as he slumped back and hugged the wall. "I want out. I want home."_

_"Jounouchi, the explosives." Seto pushed a shelf aside to clear the area in front of the wall adjacent to the steam tunnels._

_"Uhh..." Jounouchi patted down his pockets and then shot Honda a panicked look. "You got any on you, buddy?"_

_Honda shook his head._

_Seto furiously spun around on his heels and descended on Jounouchi in a fury. "You said you had them."_

_"I did, I must have just used all of them on his cell door."_

_"How many times have I stressed the importance of keeping an accurate count of ammunition? This is going to get all of us killed."_

_"Chill, the wall can't be that thick. One of my xenos could probably—"_

_Seto slapped the wall. The dull ache in his wrist echoed the dull sound when his hand limply bounced back. "There's almost five feet of concrete between us and those tunnels."_

_"Oh."_

_"And you don't have affinity with any xeno remotely in the weight class we would need."_

_"You can't possibly know that for sure."_

_"I do."_

_"There must be another way out." Honda insisted._

_"Have you memorized the blueprints of this facility? No? I can tell you for a fact that there is none."_

_"Excuse me," a meek voice cut into the conversation like a dull knife. "I might be able to provide a solution to our dilemma."_

_All heads turned to Ryou._

_"What do you mean?" Seto asked suspiciously._

_"Let me show you," he gave a small smile in return._

_Tendrils of shadow slithered out from inside Seto's shadow, climbing up the empty wall like vines of ivy until it coalesced into an amorphous blob of inky darkness. Seto jumped back in surprise and slammed his shoulders against the door. From within the wall, a dark green maw and multiple red eyes half-emerged. He pressed his back harder against the wood, but his legs remained glued to the spot where he now stood._

_Ryou's real worth became all too apparent. This was not a power to be left in either Noah or Gozaburo's hands. "Your affinities are stealth-classed." Seto had heard of this possibility, but he had never seen it in person._

_Ryou nodded softly, reaching one hand out to the creature still partly embedded in the wall. It cooed and brushed up against his fingers like a content cat. "It can take us through the wall."_

_"Are you sure you're strong enough?" Amane's brows furrowed together in worry._

_"I'll be fine."_

_"See, it all worked out in the end, Kaiba." Jounouchi threw him a cocky smile. "Who else is ready to get the fuck outta here?"_

_"I'm going to need to make more than one trip, but it shouldn't take more than a minute or two." He reached for his sister first and they melted into the wall. Then he came back for Honda next. Seto wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the sight._

_He peeled himself away from the door and grasped Jounouchi's shoulder. "Do you still have that EMP generator I gave you?"_

_"Of course."_

_"Good, listen carefully, this is extremely important. He has a tracker on him, most likely embedded somewhere inside his body. They can't track him now because the virus brought the system down. But they're going to get it up and running soon. Use an EMP to disable it and then get it out of him as soon as possible. The hand scanner should help you to locate it. Oh, and I need you to hit me a few times before you go." Seto squared his shoulders and stepped back just as Ryou came through the wall one last time._

_Jounouchi startled. "Wait, you're not coming with us?"_

_"No, like you said, my cover's still intact. My place is here."_

_"But—"_

_"Don't argue with me. You're running out of time. Now remember to make it look good," Seto said as he presented his chin to Jounouchi._

-x-x-x-

Bathed in the light of the orange sun rising over Domino City flooding through the window, Seto did up his tie and pulled on his suit jacket. His laptop was tucked safely back into his briefcase, while the rest of the equipment and electronics that Ryou and the others needed were packed into a bright pink rolling suitcase Jounouchi would wheel out.

Seto would leave first as he always did. Jounouchi would follow half an hour later with his emitter activated.

On his way out, he passed Jounouchi slew horizontally across the bed with his head dangling off one side and his sneaker-clad feet over the other side. His hand and the remote in it bobbed up and down like a weight on a spring while he surfed from one channel to the next. Jounouchi never said goodbye— claimed it was unlucky, and Seto never much bothered with social niceties unless it benefited him.

So Seto paused with one foot partly slipped into his loafer when Jounouchi unexpectedly called after him. "Hey, Kaiba, I don't know if you've heard or not, but there's someone out there bragging about how they're going to kill your entire family. I mean, they could be empty threats, but no one knows who it is. Just... be careful out there, okay?"

With both his loafers on, he straightened and turned to face Jounouchi. "You should worry more about yourself."

"I'm being serious here."

"As am I. You got on our radar in a big way after what happened with the clones. If you end up in their crosshair, they're going to shoot to kill."

"Aw, is this your way of telling me that ya care? I'll make you a deal, I won't get shot if you promise to not let some wacko knock you off." Jounouchi sat up abruptly in bed and rested both his clenched fists in his lap. "Both Shizuka and Mokuba are waiting for us to find them."

Seto solemnly nodded in agreement. "I'm leaving." The goodbye rolled off his tongue automatically when he wrenched the doorknob, surprising him with both its ease and sense of familiarity.

Jounouchi looked as shocked as he felt. Seto hurried out the room, but just as the door shut, he heard a quiet "have a safe trip." [1]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] What Kaiba and Jounouchi are actually saying to one another here is "Ittekuru" and "Itterasshai," both typical Japanese expressions exchanged between family members or housemates when someone leaves the house.


	13. Ryou's Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Ryou gazed up into the eyes of his clone, he knew his world would change. Just as it already has many times over the course of his short life. But it's okay— he's adaptable.

Ryou discovered his first affinity when he was twelve-years-old and trapped in an overturned car. To this day, he still couldn't remember much about the collision— about how the truck had rammed straight into the right side of the car where his mother and sister both sat. Shock: they would tell him days later. 

Blood gushed from the cut across his forehead, catching between his eyelashes and causing them to stick together. Shattered glass from their blown out windows crunched under his denim-clad knees, but his hands were wet and stung. His small body was wracked with pain and the sobs that he could no longer hold back.

"Ryou, you have to get out of here." Amane's breath stuttered with each word. Still suspended upside down, her face was starting to turn beet red.

"No," he immediately blurted out. His petulance would only bring him shame later.

"Come on, Ryou. You can squeeze through the window, you can do it."

He was probably the only one of them small enough to do it. The roof of the car had collapsed in after the entire vehicle landed upside down, flattening the window opening.

"No!" The only thing he wanted now was to hug his sister. Or his mother. Or both of them at once. But Hahaue hadn't said a word for a while now. Even if he wanted to obey, he couldn't— his knees had locked up.

"Please," she pleaded again. "You need to get somewhere safe. Get help."

"Not without nee-san!" he cried. "I can't."

Ryou curled into a fetal position and cupped his hands over his ears, praying for the noise and pain to stop. The darkness behind his eyelids was soothing, and his sobs subsided into hiccups after a while. It was then when he finally realized that Amane hadn't said anything for some time. In fact, she had gone completely quiet just like Hahaue.

"Nee-san?" He tentatively peeked up from under his bangs.

Her eyes were closed, and her arms dangled as limply as her ponytail. "Nee-san, wake up. Please wake up. Don't die!" But his words fell on deaf ears. When he grabbed one of her hands, it was ice cold to the touch. Full-blown panic clouded what little remained of his decision making ability. For the first time in his life, Ryou learned to fear death as a possibility.

The world dropped out from under him. His stomach rebelled at the sudden sensation of weightlessness. He wasn't inside the overturned vehicle anymore, just floating in a field of endless black. No, he had already cried today. He couldn't throw up. Big boys didn't do that.

Something foreign brushed up against him in the darkness, slipping in through the cracks of his mind. At least that'd be how he describe it later after many more instances of summoning. All he knew now was he wanted to live. But he wanted Amane to live even more.

The next breath of air that hit his lungs was frigid and free of the pungent odor of gasoline. The sunlight blinded him momentarily. He unwound his arms from around Amane's waist, but as he tried to sit up to get a better look, he collided with something above him. It wasn't hard like the roof of the car, but more yielding like his father's chest. Against the backdrop of asphalt below, a wrinkly hand-like appendage with long, sharp claws framed his much smaller hand. The other clawed hand gently cradled his stomach. Craning his neck, Ryou followed the hand up a long arm, up an elongated neck to a sloping muzzled with multiple red eyes.

The creature's warm weight surrounded him in a warm cocoon. Ryou knew its name. He knew it was safe.

"Shadow ghoul," he muttered as he reached up and placed a hand on its muzzle. "You saved us."

She pulled him closer.

"Get away from them!" someone shouted and startled them both.

The accident had drawn a gaping crowd with pedestrians and drivers alike rubbernecking. An ambulance and a few police cars were parked several meters away. The crowd collectively wore an expression of horror, shrinking back as Shadow Ghoul stood while still cradling Ryou in its arms. Drawing up to its full height, the xeno towered over most humans like a gangly giant. 

"Stop, monster!" A particularly brave officer pulled his gun as he tried to approach. Ryou's mind blanked at the sight of the firearm, and the xeno's instincts slotted into the empty mental space. 

They roared at the advancing humans, wiping one huge claw in their direction. A loud bang reverberated through the air, followed by a sharp pain in their leg. They quickly turned their back to the humans, pressing their crying charge to their chest.

_Protect, must protect._

Ryou screamed as the bullets ripped into him, piercing his hide and shedding his insides. The world switched off like an old CRT television screen— with only an echo of pain fading in the afterimage.

-x-x-x- 

_"Where do we go now?" Yuugi asked. His fingers were still intertwined with his clone's. Both of them appeared content to continue holding each other's hand._

_Their vehicle hit a pothole in the road and Ryou nearly bit his tongue. Everyone looked dead on their feet, from Anzu who was slouched against Jounouchi's side to 268 who looked gray around the edges. The night was far from over for them though._

_"We'll have to ditch this truck soon!" Honda called from the driver's compartment._

_"Then what?" Yuugi asked again._

_Ryou met his clone's gaze across the aisle and the other man answered in Ryou's stead, "We run."_  

-x-x-x-

He woke up almost a week later with his hands and feet strapped to the hospital bed. His mother was dead. After much physical therapy, Amane would eventually recover— probably. As his father delivered the next piece of news with hollow eyes, he stood so far from the foot of Ryou's bed that he might as well be out in the hallway.

The hospital had him tested for the ERVS4-2 gene while he was out; the results came back positive.

Ryou's injuries were minimal, especially compared to those suffered by his sister. Still, he remained confined in his hospital room for days with doctors that wouldn't meet his eye and psychologists that spoke too softly— as if the slightest breeze might blow Ryou apart. He endured their physical and mental prodding not because he had to, but because he was too numb to everything else.

His mother's funeral passed without him in attendance. He spent the day sitting by the window, wondering if escape was possible through an eighth story window. Amane, still wheelchair bound, went and then visited him later in the day. Ryou wasn't sure what to think when his father didn't make a similar appearance.

Three days before he was released, two men in black suits darkened his doorway like ill omens. They identified themselves as "people from the government" and asked Ryou to summon something for them. He sweated, furrowed his brows, and made no real effort to call anything to their reality. 

Not because he was afraid, but because he was still haunted by the remaining visages of Shadow Ghoul's pain. He could never knowingly put another living creature through that again.

Visibly disappointed by the results, the men finally left before dinnertime.

When Ryou finally returned to school, he did so as a pariah twice over. One doesn't outrun rumors of giant shadow xenos, not even at the tender age of twelve.

-x-x-x-

_After their escape from Kokunodai Hospital, they didn't go back to either Domino City or Tokyo for nearly two months. They spent that time living as far below the radar as possible— in some of the most remote parts of Japan. Cut off from contact with either Rebecca or Seto, they were completely on their own without backup._

_It was a unique experience even for the likes of Jounouchi and Honda, who had lived with some of the spottiest accommodations since before registration_   _laws were passed. But it was plain to see that Anzu was hit the hardest by life on the run._

_Ryou approached her once about it. "We can try and get you out of the country or settled somewhere else. You don't have to come with us."_

_Anzu wasn't wanted like the rest of them. She should have never been put in the position she was now. They_ — _no, Ryou had failed her in that regard. Her best chance laid elsewhere. She could make a clean break via political asylum. She even had a degree from overseas. There might still be a future ahead of her._

_"No," she said with a weary smile. Ryou jumped in his skin when she grasped his hands and squeezed. "I'm right where I need to be. I'm in this fight with you to the end."_

_"We're all in this together," Yuugi said suddenly._

_The two betaforms nodded in unison, and Ryou's heart swelled._

-x-x-x-

If someone had asked Ryou what he wanted to be when he grew up before the accident, Ryou would have declared, "I want to be an archaeologist just like Chichiue." After the accident though, he found it harder to imagine himself in any future career. So he replied with "doctor," which appeared to be a socially acceptable answer in the eyes of most adults. A high school education may not be compulsory in Japan, but it was one of those things that Ryou assumed would be in his future. Like university.

But even high school was looking further and further out-of-reach these days. Nearly every school in the area had publicly stated their intent to not accept any IDS-identified students, no matter how good the grades or entrance exam scores. It was because they didn't have the facilities or resources to support that particular student population.

Ryou could now see how naive he was to buy into their excuses.

His was a growing demographic with nowhere to go. More and more schools at the elementary and junior high level were pressuring students to get tested whether or not they had ever exhibited any summoning incidents. While results weren't publicly announced, they weren't subject to confidentiality either. There were watchdog groups monitoring the "possible threat" nowadays. They'd say it was a matter of public safety: property could be damaged during summons or someone might get hurt by the terrible creatures. So when someone— a child— tested positive for the ERVS4-2 gene, news about their newfound IDS status was spread across the neighborhood in days.

But greater trouble was brewing in the world outside Ryou's neighborhood. Japan seemed to be on the verge of war with China. Years of animosity, bickering over territory, perceived slights on both side, and old sins never fully forgiven was causing the churning cauldron to boil over. Officials in Beijing spoke of the dawning of a new age where China would shine as the new guiding light of Asia, and Japan was justifiably worried about its over-sized neighbor. Because when it came down raw numbers, Japan would be the one overwhelmed.

With nationwide fear at a peak, the Japan Self-Defense Forces began recruiting in earnest. There were even efforts made to target the new IDS population. The commercials painted images of camaraderie and acceptance, and sold summoners all over Japan on the idea that they would be hailed as heroes. They would be the greatest line of defense for the Japanese people.

_Do it for your family and country._

_Show them you're just as patriotic._

_Use your gifts for the good of the nation._

And it had worked. Enrollment in the Self-Defense Forces doubled in those first few years, with more than half of the new recruits being IDS fresh out of high school and older ones for whom military service was fast becoming their only choice of employment. Ryou remembered watching those same commercials and wondering if he too could join the army.

(If he could, would his father be proud of him then?)

Amane, on the other hand, scrimped and saved where she could. After she graduated from high school, she went abroad to England to study medicine. Ryou couldn't even see her off at the airport because there was no one to take him home— their father was a virtual non-entity in their lives by that point. She hugged him tightly and said, "I'm so sorry to leave you, Ryou. But you understand why I'm doing this right? This way I'll be able to take care of you afterwards. I'll email you every day, I promise. I'll be back sooner than you know it."

Ryou didn't cry when the door closed behind her. Not wanting her to worry too much, he put on a brave face and saw her off with a smile.

Two months later, the local government announced that it was setting up a new school for IDS with the help of some funds from the Kaiba Corporation. Construction was nearly complete already. The boarding school would be located on a small island about 35 kilometers off the shore of Domino City. It would be remote, but the tuition and room and board were covered, the admission standards lax, and students would be able to earn up to a high school diploma. Photos of the facilities showcased sleek dormitories and large open spaces to accommodate students and their xenos. In return, KaibaCorp's scientific staff would get to study the students and their abilities outside of class hours. To ensure proper supervision though, students would not be allowed to leave campus except on the holidays.

It would be a mutually beneficial relationship for all parties involved, Kaiba Gozaburo declared. He'd supposedly sunk almost 200 million yen into the project so far.

With only an empty home to look after, Ryou took the initiative and filled in an application. His father returned it signed via email without any further comment. 

-x-x-x-

_By the time that things cooled off enough to contact Seto again, it was late spring. As soon as Anzu left the room with her newly-issued holo emitter, Seto turned to Ryou and said, "You're making a mistake by letting them stay."_

_"If they were going to betray us, they would have done so already. Besides, we're not in the position to turn down additional manpower." He was surprised that Seto had even waited this long to bring the matter up._   _Had Ryou not asked the betaforms to go gather some intelligence, Seto would have confronted them directly._

_"They're not like you or me," Seto warned as he packed away his tools._

_Ryou smiled softly and shook his head. "Of course, they're not. We're all our own unique individuals."_

-x-x-x-

The Kaiba Academy accepted an inaugural class of almost 300 students spanning across grades 5-12. That meant there was currently one class of approximately 30 students for each grade. Should the program prove successful, the administration was hoping to at least double enrollment and expand the campus population for next year.

The orientation lasted almost an hour and a half as the principal, a dour-looking man in his late-forties, painstakingly laid down the rules of the school. Ryou's feet nearly fell asleep by the time the principal turned the podium over to Kaiba Gozaburo himself. From a distance, Ryou decided he didn't quite trust Gozaburo. There was something about the way he addressed them that rubbed Ryou the wrong way.

Afterwards, the new students broke and trudged their belongings to their assigned dorms. Ryou reached the room before his roommate. The space was nothing to write home about, but it was serviceable enough for two growing boys to live together comfortably. There were two beds, each lofted over a large study desk, on opposite sides of the room. There was no en-suite bathroom as everyone on the floor shared a large bathroom at the end of the hall. 

Ryou took a deep breath and began unpacking for his new life.

Halfway through his suitcase, a soft knock resonated through the room. Another boy Ryou's age stood in the hallway on the other side of the door he'd left open. At his feet sat an over-sized duffel bag, and his wild hair was drooping with sweat. His purple eyes looked everywhere but directly at Ryou as he spoke very quietly, "My name is Mutou Yuugi, please to meet your acquaintance."

Ryou recognized the nervous shuffle of the feet; he'd done the same in the past. 

He hung his school uniform blazer up in the closet and stepped toward his roommate. "Bakura Ryou, nice to meet you," he cocked his head toward the bag on the floor. "That must be very heavy. Why don't I help you?"

-x-x-x-

More than half a year later, tensions between China and Japan had cooled into a persistent cold war. Attempts to revise the constitution to allow overseas military deployment were met with protest. But it didn't appear they would be marching to war anytime soon.

At home, the Academy was ostensibly declared a success to the public. Applications came flooding in from all over Japan— from parents who were concerned about their kids in regular schools and those who just didn't know what to do with their IDS kids. There were even rumors of officer commissions in the SDF upon graduation.

But the students themselves were more excited about the new dorms opening the coming school year. They were all supposedly single rooms with an attached bathroom all of their own. But best of all, they were only made available to students that had already spent a year at the Academy. So space was limited and the competition was fierce.

"Bakura-kun! Bakura-kun!" Yuugi squealed as he flew into the dining hall. His face was flushed with excitement, and he had a piece of paper clutched in his flailing hands. "I've been accepted into the blue dorms!"

Ryou forced a smile. "That's wonderful news." Truth be told, he was going to miss sharing a room with Yuugi.

"What about you? Did you get a letter?"

Ryou shook his head.

Yuugi's face fell. "But you have the highest grade in our year!"

Which really wasn't that big of an accomplishment when your entire grade consisted of only 31 other students. Besides, it was well-known that summoner proficiency counted just as much as, if not more so than, grades.

"An NG like him has no place in Blue dorm." A nasally voice mocked Ryou from behind.

Ryou tensed before turning around to face Nagumo Koji. The high-schooler liked to think he was the big man on campus on account of having affinity with the xeno categorized into the highest weight class in the entire school. He was everything like the aforementioned xeno: big, loud, and dumb. 

But Ryou never said any of this aloud. He was at the school to keep his head low, graduate, and maybe go searching for opportunities abroad like Amane. Getting into pissing contests with over-inflated bullies was not on the list— even though it sometime grated on his nerves to take the abuse lying down.

But Nagumo must have been itching for a fight because he redirected his attention to Yuugi. He always fancied there was some sort of rivalry between them. "Although it's a wonder you got in, Mutou."

"I'm sure the administration has their reasons." Yuugi replied serenely before turning back to Ryou. "Don't worry, Bakura-kun, there's always next year."

Ryou forced another smile. He appreciated Yuugi's optimism even if he found it hard to believe. For someone who had yet to demonstrate any ability to summon a xeno, Ryou and others like him were at the bottom of the school's ladder.

Yuugi continued, "By the way, how did you do on the history exam?"

"Don't ignore me, Mutou!" Nagumo hissed.

Ryou tensed— the light on Nagumo's biometric bracelet turned yellow. All the students wore the same bracelet as part of the school's effort to study them, and the bracelets doubled as a sort of early warning system. He put down his food tray on a nearby table and grabbed Yuugi by the shoulder, then steered him toward the exit. The uncomfortable sensation of something pulling at Ryou's navel occurred less than several steps away. A large, reptilian xeno materialized and knocked a nearby table askew with its tail.

"Fuck!" Some student shouted and the dining hall emptied instantly.

The administration tended to crack down on unauthorized summonings with swift and extreme prejudice. Security preferred to taser everything in sight first and ask questions later. Ryou wanted nothing more than to follow, but there was a xeno between them and the exit. It paid no attention as the last other student fled out the door— its beady eyes glued to Ryou and Yuugi.

He glanced back. Nagumo's bracelet was red now.

"Stop this," Yuugi said. "You know how much trouble you'll get in."

"Not until you call one of your puny xenos. I'll crush it and prove once and for all that I'm the strongest summoner in this school."

Yuugi pulled away and tried to go around the large lizard. He jumped back in time to avoid a swing of its agitated tail. "Let us go, Nagumo-kun."

"Fight me first, you coward!" Nagumo screamed.

The xeno lunged forward with a snap of its jaw. Ryou's life might have ended in a flash of razor sharp teeth if Yuugi hadn't dragged him under a table first. From outside their temporary structure, Ryou could hear a growl of frustration ground out in unison between the xeno and summoner.

"What do we do now?" Ryou asked, shrinking back away from the talons swiping through the gaps in their makeshift defense.

"Wait for security to come get us?"

Ryou looked down at Yuugi's bracelet. The light was still glowing a steady and calming blue. "You're not going—"

"No—"

Together, they winced as the wood above them groaned and buckled. Two seconds later, the table began to crack under the xeno's full weight. Ryou pushed Yuugi to the floor, cradling the other boy's head against his chest, and rolled them both out from under the collapsing furniture. He watched warily as the xeno sidestepping awkwardly on all four to reorient itself in their direction.

Ryou panted, "We can't keep doing this."

The ground shook as the xeno jumped back down.

"No, that's why you should make a break for it. He wants me." Yuugi took a shuddering breath, disentangled himself, and rose to his feet.

Ryou gaped in return. "I'm not leaving you behind, especially if you won't defend yourself!"

Nagumo rubbed his hands together with glee. "Come on, Mutou, call one of yours. I'll give you to the count of five: one, two, three—"

"Yuugi!" Ryou pushed himself to stand despite his shaky limbs. Had he looked down, he would have noticed the light on his own biometric bracelet turn yellow.

Yuugi remained steadfast in the face of the giant lizard about to bear down on him.

"Four."

Several things happened simultaneously as Nagumo snapped "five" and dropped his hands. The xeno charged forward as a squad of security personnel burst through the cafeteria door. Yuugi threw his arms up to guard his face, even as he began sinking into his shadow like it was quicksand. By then, Ryou hadn't felt the pull of a summon in many years. But an affinity once established never breaks— not until death at least. Something deep inside him stretched like a rubber band before snapping into place.

Nagumo's lizard flew past the spot that Yuugi once occupied and crashed into another row of tables. 

But everyone was far more interested into the spot of shadow slithering across the torn-up wooden floor. The presence comfortably nestled in the nooks and crannies of Ryou's brain told him that Shadow Ghoul was there even before she stuck her head out of floor. She trilled, pulling out of the ground with a dazed Yuugi in her arms.

Shadow Ghoul deposited Yuugi and mindful of her talons, slid one hand through Ryou's long hair in greeting. But the guards were moving into position, effectively trapping them in the center of their makeshift circle. Perhaps sensing Ryou's growing anxiety, Shadow Ghoul drew up into a defensive stance in front of the two boys. It was then that Ryou noticed the dimpled scars peppering the hide on the back of his xeno— the remainders of the first time she'd saved him.

"Dismiss them or we will fire," a guard declared.

For a moment, Nagumo looked like he was considering fighting them off. After shooting one last glare in Ryou and Yuugi's direction, he dismissed his xeno. Two guards approached him, forcing the boy to his knees and his hands to the back of his head. Ryou was about to do the same when the scientist in charge of the KaibaCorp team situated at the academy glided up to him.

"Not yet, I want to see exactly what you're capable of, boy." Dr. Ishtar peered down at Ryou with eyes shining bright. This must be what it felt like to be a butterfly pinned to a shadowbox.

Ryou's blood ran cold.

-x-x-x-

_"Bakura," Jounouchi called from across the room._

_"Yes." Ryou and 268 answered in unison._   _Ryou had responded based on a reflex honed over a lifetime of answering to his family name. As for why 268 also answered in kind, who knew?_

 _The expression on Jounouchi's face was confused and tinged green around the edge._   _"Could you please not do that?"_

_"Do what?" Ryou and 268 asked as one. He shot an annoyed glare at his clone, who smirked in reply. The betaform was doing it to mess with Jounouchi._

_Jounouchi flapped his hands helplessly. "That! It's super freaky when you're both in sync like that. It's been getting worse. He's wearing your clothes and acting like you. I can barely tell the two of you apart some days. Yuugi and Yami_   _aren't like that! Why can't you be more like Yami?" He pointed one accusing finger at the other betaform._

_Yami— that was the name 275 had chosen for himself. One day, he woke up and declared that they could all address him as "Yami" over a breakfast of watery rice porridge. When asked why Yami specifically, he would stare without blinking until the person who asked went away. Yuugi apparently knew the reason, because he always wore a small secretive smile whenever he overheard the question._

_268 rolled his eyes. "That's because Yami often has about as much emotions as a robot. And why would I be more like Yami? This is my progenitor." 268 looped an arm through and locked elbows with Ryou, then pillowed his head on Ryou's shoulder like a well-fed cat._

_"But it can get confusing, especially out in public," Yuugi said as he entered the clearing with Yami trailing behind him. "We can't call you 268 forever. If you're having trouble picking a name, we could help."_

_268 lifted his head and wrinkled his nose. Over Yuugi's head, the two betaforms stared into each other eyes and stilled for a full minute. They did that sometimes, and Ryou often got the feeling that some inaudible conversation was taking place. The two were mildly psychic. When they broke eye contact, 268 turned up his nose and declared, "It's fine."_

_From that point on, Jounouchi tried all manners of nicknames: Baku-chan, Kura, etc. At first, 268 was simply unimpressed but quickly grew annoyed. Jounouchi finally got the message after finding a specter-like xeno waiting in his camp bed three nights in a row._

_The girlish and blood-curdling scream almost made being woken in the middle of the night worth it. Almost._

_One night, Ryou and his clone drew the short straw and was charged with scouting the area around their temporary campsite of the week. With no one else around for miles, Ryou decided to broach the subject himself._

_"Why won't you pick a name for yourself?"_

_268's jaunty pace slowed to a stroll. Finally, he came to a stop in the shadows of a gnarled and dead tree. "Why? We already share everything else."_

_True_ — _though their shared genetics and appearance was not through either of their choice. The two of them also shared a wardrobe, which was common sense given they were the same size and 268 didn't seem to mind Ryou's fashion sense. As for everything else, no one in the group had much in the way of personal effects. It wasn't feasible otherwise because they were on the move all the time. Supplies were limited and their current situation prevented them from hoarding resources. 268 didn't just share a lot of things with Ryou, but with the rest of the group too._

_268 continued, "So why not your name too? Unless you object."_

_Ryou directed his flashlight at the betaform. He dislike talking to that which he couldn't see. As the light hit 268, he turned to the side as if to hide his face._

_"No, I don't mind. But it can get confusing for the others. You might be able to read their minds and know which one of us they want to talk to, but I can't do that." Ryou moved to close the distance between them._

_"I don't read the others' mind. You said it was rude and not done," 268 grumbled. "Jounouchi's is like the equivalent of a mental black hole anyway."_

_"Hey, be nice." Ryou reached out and lightly whacked the other man's arm._

_"I don't care what the others want. Bakura is as much my name as it's yours and Amane's. That's what human customs regarding close blood relations dictate," 268 peeked at Ryou from under his white bangs, similar to what Amane did when she felt nervous. "Isn't it?"_

_268 often teased Yami about him being no better than a child. Ryou could believe it, given how Yami was technically only two years old and had led a very restricted and sheltered life thus far. But he easily forgot that the same could apply to 268, who had been "born" only the year before Yami. 268 just hid his origins better. He was better at playing normal than Yami. He did so by adopting and shedding other people's mannerisms until he found the ones that suited him best. Jounouchi had not been wrong— these days, 268 was acting more like Ryou and Amane by proxy._

_"You're right. Don't worry about it. I know what to do." He ruffled 268's hair affectionately and barely dodged the half-hearted punch subsequently thrown his way._

_In the morning, Ryou pulled 268 into the center of their clearing and announced to the group, "From now on, you can call me Ryou." Then he pointed to his wary twin, "And him Bakura, got it?"_

_And that was that._

-x-x-x-

"Amane," Ryou muttered as he clung harder to his older sister's hand. His voice cracked from disuse.

Older sister, she did look older— notably older than the last time he saw her over a holiday visit. How long ago was that? Ryou couldn't remembered. Years must have passed in a semi-conscious and drugged blur. He was lucid now, but the world seemed so alien. He didn't know how old he was anymore. He struggled to recall life before the facility. He had gone to school once, hadn't he? It was no use. His fragile memories were slipping through his fingers like a mound of sand.

"It's okay, little brother. I got you now." She squeezed his hand and ran her fingers through his bangs. Their mother used to do that— to soothe Ryou whenever he got distressed as a child.

After escaping the facility and trekking down the dark steam tunnels, they emerged outside. Into fresh air. Into trees. Into sunlight. Then he was herded into the back of a van waiting for them and they took off with the speed of a bullet. There were no windows in the back of the van, but Ryou didn't care. Anywhere far from the facility was fine.

The blond boy who had introduced himself as Jounouchi made a victorious noise as he pulled two devices out of the box in the corner. Ryou shrunk back into Amane's arms when Jounouchi tried to approach him.

"Jounouchi won't hurt you. He's a friend." 

"There's a tracker inside of you. If we don't get it out, they're going to find us soon."

Leather straps chaffing around his wrists. A needle puncturing his skin— that dispensed oblivion with the push of a plunger.

"Don't let them take me back." Ryou cried.

"Then let us help you."

Ryou nodded slowly. Jounouchi handed his sister a strange looking visor that she pulled over her eyes. She flicked a switch and the device hummed to life.

"You see anything?" Jounouchi asked with a nervous edge to his words.

"Not yet. Are you sure," Amane worried his lips. "Your friend wasn't mistaken?"

"I trust Kaiba. If he says there's a tracker, there's one."

The name of his captor caused Ryou's stomach to lurch. He shivered.

"Wait, there's something." Amane shuffled around him until she was kneeling behind him. She gently swept his hair back and pressed a finger firmly at the base of his neck. "Here."

"Honda," Jounouchi shouted to the person in the driver's seat. "Find somewhere to pull over. We need to get this tracker out of him ASAP."

"Roger that." Honda called back and the van went flying around the next tight bend. They hit some sort of bump or pothole before coming to a full stop.

They maneuvered him around to face the back of the van.

"This is an EMP. It's going to make sure that tracker stays offline in the meanwhile," Jounouchi explained as something cold and metallic pressed against the back of Ryou's neck. "It won't hurt, promise."

Ryou nodded and croaked, "Get it out of me."

A high-pitched whine filled the air, then followed by the sound of empty air being punched. It didn't hurt, but Ryou felt a tingle at the base of his spine.

Amane pushed the visor back over her forehead, using the band as a hairband to push her bangs back. As Jounouchi guided Ryou into a facedown position, he watched as his sister pulled on a pair of nitrite gloves. A package was torn and something wet was dabbed on the back of his neck— some type of rubbing alcohol based on the smell.

Amane hovered over him. Her hesitation was palpable. "I don't have much anesthetic with me right now. It might take some of the edge off, but you're going to feel it."

"No," Ryou squeezed his hands into a fist. "No drugs."

"But—"

"No drugs, please," he pleaded.

"Honda, Jounouchi, you need to hold him down. Don't let him move," Amane ordered.

"Here, bite down on this." Honda presented him with worn strip of leather as he climbed into the back.

"Don't worry, Ryou. This will be over before you know it." Amane stroked the back of his neck, causing Ryou's skin to goose bump and his hair to stand on its ends.

He fought his panic down as strong arms pinned him to the floor of the van. He bit down on the leather between his teeth and his choked scream as Amane made the first incision.

-x-x-x-

_Ryou, Bakura, and Yami circled the perimeter of the laboratory twice. It wasn't high in priority for the Kaiba Corporation, because they wouldn't have allowed the reporters to tour it otherwise. Still, one never knew what they might find._

_Bakura and Yami barely needed to communicate with one another. If Ryou had not been there, they might not have needed to speak out loud at all. The two betaforms would look at one another, nod, and fall into position._

_Ryou tried not to let the fact that he was a third wheel get him too down. Truth be told, Bakura and Yami would have been more than enough for such a basic recon. But Ryou worried about his clone from time to time. The surprising thing was that Bakura let him fuss about it._

_So far, they had not encountered any of the security devices that usually guarded the more top-secret facilities. It had been months since they last risked approaching one like this, so it was necessary to keep up-to-date with any possible changes in KaibaCorp's security protocols._

_Ryou was about to call an end to the recon when Bakura stopped dead and spun around with urgency. He responded accordingly by freezing mid-step._

_"Who are you? Identify yourself!" Someone demanded from behind Ryou._

_He turned slowly with hands up in the air. His holo emitter was on, so he shouldn't be recognized immediately. But the guard that snuck up on them still had his firearm trained on Ryou._

_"I'm sorry, we're with—"_

_Bakura cut Ryou off and growled dangerously, "Don't you point that thing at him."_

_The muzzle shifted from Ryou to some point behind him— to Bakura. Ryou kept his hands raised in hopes of finding a way to defuse the situation._

_"Stay where you are!" the guard screamed. With his other hand, he reached for the radio hooked to his belt._

_Before he could grab it, Yami appeared out of the shadows of his namesake and intercepted the hand. The guard quickly turned_ —  _Yami's close proximity put him right in the line of fire._

_"You won't alert the others," Yami said and the hand slackened in his grip._

_"Yami, let's get the hell out of here," Bakura hissed._

_"He can tell us what we need to know."_

_The guard's knees were shaking._

_"Tell us—" Light from a vehicle on the other side of the fence shone in their direction, throwing shadows over the plains of Yami's face and illuminating his almost-red eyes._   _It was a sight that made even Ryou's blood run cold._

_"No! Stay away!"_

_A shot rang out in the night. Like a marionette whose strings were cut, Yami jerked back and collapsed onto the ground in a heap. Ryou immediately dove to reach Yami. Shadow Ghoul waited inside the ground, pulling them both through and phasing back out some distance away from the guard. Ryou let out a cry of relief when he found Yami was breathing at the other end._

_A dozen yards away, Bakura roared, "I'll kill you!"_

_Diabound struck with the speed of a viper. Its serpentine tail knocked the firearm from the guard's hand with a lazy swish, then it snaked up his legs and coiled around his arms and chest like a boa constrictor._

_"Help!" the guard screamed, but the more he struggled, the tighter Diabound clamped down around him. His cry for help died in a squeak._

_"Leave him!" Ryou ordered as firmly managed. He pressed down on the wound on Yami's shoulder to staunch the bleeding._

_There was a lot of blood._

_"Why? He tried to shoot you. He shot Yami," Bakura closed the distance in the blink of an eye. He knelt down and pulled Ryou's hand away to examine the entry wound. "He deserves to die."_

_By then, the guard had gone limp in Diabound's tight grip._

_Bakura's face was void of expression except for the steel and fire in his eyes. Ryou shivered. Still he had to try and reason with the betaform. "No, that's not what we do. Let him go now! The most important thing now is to get Yami back to Amane."_

_Bakura narrowed his eyes and glared. "Are you ordering me?"_

_"Yes," Ryou replied without hesitating. They had to be better than the other side if they were going to win this war._

_Yami opened his eyes, blinking rapidly. "It hurts," he muttered in wonder._

_Bakura's face crumbled. Behind him, Diabound dropped the unconscious guard and dematerialized. "Of course, it hurts. You're not fucking Superman."_

_"Superman?" Yami asked in a daze._

_Ignoring him, Bakura threaded one hand under Yami's knees and the other around his shoulders. He lifted Yami and nodded to Ryou, "Let's go before I change my mind."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the last of the interludes I had planned. I'm going to work on finishing Part 2 before start posting again, so it might be a bit before you see Fate Map update again.


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